Zheng Reaches Challenger Final; Quinn and Baris Meet Again for Wichita $25K Title; Current and Former Collegians Sweep All Five USTA Pro Circuit Doubles Finals; Monday and Fearnley Claim Nottingham Challenger Title

In a rain-interrupted semifinal at the ATP Challenger 75 in Puerto Rico Saturday night, 19-year-old qualifier Michael Zheng defeated Beibit Zhukayev of Kazakhstan 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) to advance to Sunday's final. The rising Columbia sophomore missed out on his chance to break Zhukayev at 5-5 0-40, but didn't let the loss of the next five points faze him. He held to force the tiebreaker, took a 4-1 and 5-2 lead, then closed it out with a tricky volley on his first match point. Zheng, who is up to 542 in the ATP live rankings now, will play the winner of the second semifinal between wild card Kei Nishikori of Japan and qualifier Gustavo Heide of Brazil for the title.

Nineteen-year-olds Ethan Quinn and Ozan Baris played last year in the semifinals of the USTA National 18s championships in Kalamazoo, with Quinn earning his place in the final, and no worse than a US Open qualifying wild card, with a 6-3, 6-4 victory.

Tomorrow in Wichita, the two rising sophomores will play in the singles final of the $25,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament, after coming through two tough semifinal battles. No. 5 seed Quinn, playing in his first tournament since winning the NCAA singles title at the conclusion of his redshirt freshman year at Georgia, got past Ohio State's James Trotter of Japan 7-6(7), 7-5 in just over two hours.

Baris, who just completed his freshman year at Michigan State, came from 4-0 and 5-1 down in the third set against wild card Sebastian Gornzy(TCU), saving match points in his 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 victory. Baris will be playing in his first Pro Circuit final Sunday; Quinn won a $25K and a $15K title last year.

In doubles, Baris, the US Open boys doubles champion last year, won his first title on the Pro Circuit today with Duke's Garrett Johns. The pair defeated Trotter, the 2023 NCAA doubles champion, and Ohio State teammate Cannon Kingsley 7-6(4), 6-3 in the final between unseeded teams.

The Wichita final is the only one of the five Pro Circuit events featuring two Americans, with both the women's $60K in Sumter and men's $15K in San Diego having no American finalists.

In South Carolina, No. 3 seed Liv Hovde lost to No. 8 seed Yuliia Starodubtseva(Old Dominion) of Ukraine 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. Starodubtseva will play No. 2 seed Karman Thandi of India, who beat No. 5 seed Maria Mateas(Duke) 7-5, 6-3.

Like all the other four doubles championships on the USTA Pro Circuit this week, the Sumter title went to collegians or former collegians. Top seeds Mateas and Anna Rogers(NC State) took the championship with a 6-4, 6-7(3), 10-6 decision over unseeded Starodubtseva and Mccartney Kessler(Florida).

In San Diego, both American men lost in the semifinals, with Lorenzo Claverie of Italy defeating fellow qualifier Alex Kotzen(Columbia) 6-2, 7-6(6) and Blaise Bicknell(Florida/Tennessee) beating qualifier Warren Wood(Claremont-Mudd-Scripps) 6-2, 6-3. It will be the first singles title on the Pro Circuit for both Claverie or Bicknell.

The men's doubles title in San Diego went to top seeds Colin Markes(Texas) and Andrew Rogers(Tennessee/Pepperdine), who defeated unseeded Bryce Nakashima(Ohio State) and Quinn Vandecasteele(Oregon) 6-4, 6-4 in today's final.

Top seed Sara Daavettila(North Carolina) will play for her first Pro Circuit singles title tomorrow in San Diego, against Chanel Simmonds of South Africa. The 30-year-old Simmonds defeated fellow qualifier Kate Fakih, 16, by a score 6-2, 6-4 to advance to the final. Daavettila beat No. 4 seed Kimmi Hance(UCLA) 7-5, 6-1.

Daavettila won her first Pro Circuit title this afternoon, taking the doubles championship with partner Katherine Hui, a rising freshman at Stanford. The top seeds defeated No. 2 seeds Malaika Rapolu(Texas) and Ukraine's Anita Sahdiieva(Baylor/LSU) 7-6(4), 6-4 in today's final.

Cracked Raquets will have coverage of the singles finals from San Diego on their YouTube channel, beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern time.

At the women's $25,000 tournament in Colorado Springs, unseeded Allie Kiick will face No. 4 seed Katarina Kozarov(Furman) of Serbia for the title Sunday. Kiick, who last won a title in 2019, defeated Rhiann Newborn(Baylor) 6-2, 6-0; Kozarov, who won last year's Colorado Springs event, then a $15K, beat No. 2 seed Saki Imamura of Japan 6-4, 6-2.

The doubles title went to No. 3 seeds Eryn Cayetano(USC) and Maribella Zamarripa(Texas), who defeated Russia's Alina Shcherbinina(Baylor/Oklahoma) and Lauren Friedman(Arizona) 6-4, 6-2 in the final.

After this year's NCAA championships, Jake Fearnley(TCU) and Johannus Monday(Tennessee) headed back to their home country's grass tournaments, and today they won the doubles title at the ATP Challenger 125 in Nottingham. The wild cards defeated top seeds Ben McLachlan of Japan and Andre Goransson of Sweden, both Cal alums, in the first round and in today's final got past the unseeded British pair of Liam Broady and Jonny O'Mara 6-3, 6-7(6), 10-7. It's the first pro title at any level for Fearnley; Monday has three titles at the $25K level.