Tien, Jin, Holmgren and Navarro Earn USTA Pro Circuit Titles; Five Americans Advance WTA 125 Dow Tennis Classic Qualifying; Junior Davis Cup Begins Monday in Spain

Top seed Learner Tien captured his second $15,000 USTA Pro Circuit title today in Norman Oklahoma, with the two-time Kalamazoo 18s champion defeating No. 2 seed Duarte Valle of Portugal 7-6(6), 6-2. The 17-year-old, who played briefly at USC this past spring, won his first title in July in his hometown of Irvine California; this title was definitely less comfortable for him, being indoors, and he struggled in his opening round match, winning it in a third-set tiebreaker. 

In today's final, Tien trailed 4-1 in the first set, then 6-2 in the first tiebreaker, but won six straight points to steal the set from the former University of Florida All-American. Up a break 1-0 in the second set, Tien lost it and was serving at 1-2, 0-30 when he found another level; he hit many and varied winners in the next five games and closed out the match with yet another one for the title. 

A top-seeded teenager also won the $15,000 men's Pro Circuit tournament in Tallahassee Florida, with Australian Jeremy Jin, a freshman at Florida, needing nearly two hours to defeat No. 8 seed Felix Corwin(Minnesota) 7-5, 6-3. It's Jin's first ITF men's World Tennis Tour title.

San Diego's 2022 NCAA singles finalist August Holmgren won the $25,000 men's Pro Circuit tournament in Harlingen Texas, with the 25-year-old from Denmark, seeded No. 2, defeating French qualifier Raphael Perot, a senior at Texas A&M 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-1 in today's final. It's the third career singles title for Holmgren, and the second at the $25K level.

The third top seed to claim a title on the USTA Pro Circuit this week is Emma Navarro, who won the $80,000 women's tournament in Tyler Texas with a 6-3, 6-4 win over No. 2 seed Kayla Day, overcoming a mid-match rain disruption that forced a move indoors to SMU's facility at 1-1 in the second set. The 2021 NCAA champion as a freshman at Virginia, Navarro now has won four ITF women's events this year, at every level above the $15K, but this is her first career pro title not on clay. Navarro is now into the WTA Top 40 for the first time.

Emina Bektas, the former University of Michigan star, won her biggest title this evening at the WTA 125 in Tampico Mexico, with the No. 6 seed beating No. 4 seed Anna Kalinskaya of Russia 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(3). Bektas will move just outside the Top 80 and will not have to worry about the final week of the USTA's Australian Open Wild Card Challenge, as she'll be in the main draw without it now. 

Navarro, Day and Bektas are all expected this week here at the WTA 125 Dow Tennis Classic in Midland Michigan, where I spent the day watching qualifying. I had anticipated that one of the three might withdraw after they made the finals, but as of today at least, they are all still expected. Elli Mandlik, who lost to Kalinskaya last night in the semifinals, did withdraw, and Yulia Starodubtseva of Ukraine, who was the No. 1 seed in qualifying moved into the main draw, with alternate Tori Kinard, ranked 919, taking her place.

So wild card Chloe Beck(Duke), scheduled to face No. 172 Starodubtseva, played Kinard instead, and I arrived in time to see the final few games. Beck, now 449 in the WTA rankings, won the first set in a tiebreaker and served for the match at 5-4 in the second set, but played a poor game to get broken at love. She broke again in the next game and made good on her second chance to close out the 7-6(5), 7-5 victory.

Beck will play former UCLA star Robin Anderson, a two-time Dow Tennis Classic finalist, who is the No. 8 seed in qualifying. Anderson and Dalayna Hewitt went the distance, with Anderson pulling out a 7-6(7), 4-6, 7-5 win.

Following Beck on the Meredith McGrath Stadium Court was Beck's former Duke teammate and Midland resident Ellie Coleman, who is now a junior in Durham. She was taking on No. 4 seed Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva of Andorra, the 2020 Australian Open girls champion and is still only 18 years old. Coleman was obviously nervous to start and was doing way too much defending, dropping the first set 6-2, but she loosened up in the second set and played much more aggressively, while Jimenez Kasintseva lost her rhythm on serve and made errors early in the rallies to lose the second set 6-0.  Coleman lost her serve at 2-2 in the third and Jimenez Kasintseva was able to hold in her next two service games, breaking Coleman at love to take the third set 6-3.

Victoria Hu, the former Princeton standout, beat an out of sorts Ashley Lahey, the 2018 NCAA singles finalist at Pepperdine, 6-3 6-4 and will face Jimenez Kasintseva in Monday's final round of qualifying. 

Jana Kolodynska of Belarus and Catherine Harrison(UCLA) combined for one of the most entertaining matches of the day, with long rallies that ran the gamut: laser-like winners, changeup slices, swinging volleys and drop shots, with an occasional ace or return winner thrown in for good measure. Harrison was up 4-3 and serving and had three game points, but No. 2 seed Kolodynska converted her third break point for 4-all, then held and broke for a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 victory. She will face 37-year-old Varvara Lepchenko, who beat No. 6 seed Grace Min 6-2, 6-3. 

The fourth qualifying match Monday will feature No. 5 seed Louisa Chirico and No. 3 seed Lulu Sun of Switzerland. Chirico outlasted Whitney Osuigwe 7-6(8), 2-6, 6-3, coming from 6-3 down in the first set tiebreaker, while Sun, the former Texas Longhorn star, cruised past compatriot Connie Perrin 6-2, 6-1 in just 49 minutes.

Main draw matches will also begin Monday, with four first round matches in singles and two main draw doubles matches. No. 2 seed Peyton Stearns is in action against Emiliana Arango of Colombia, with No. 3 seed Alycia Parks and Ann Li in an all-US contest. Starodubtseva will play wild card Sophie Chang.

Doubles wild cards Beck and Coleman will play No. 2 seeds Perrin and Iryna Shymanovich of Belarus, while Osuigwe and Hailey Baptiste will face former UCLA teammates Anderson and Harrison.

The Junior Davis Cup begins Monday in Cordoba Spain, with round robin play for the 16 teams who qualified, including the United States. The US team consists of Darwin Blanch, Maxwell Exsted and Jagger Leach, with Sylvain Guichard the USTA National Coach serving as captain. In a departure from the usually concurrent events, the Junior Billie Jean King Cup is the following week.

I did not receive the email I usually get regarding the draws, and I don't see them posted on the ITF website. There is a live stream available at the ITF YouTube Channel.