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Saturday, April 27, 2024

Baierl, Lyutova Claim ITF J100 Titles in Delray Beach; Woestendick and Razeghi Win First Pro Circuit Title in Vero Beach; Stanford Capture Women's Pac-12 Title; Ohio State and Michigan Meet Sunday for Both Men's and Women's Big Ten Titles

Top seed Calvin Baierl and No. 3 seed Christina Lyutova won the singles titles today at the first of three ITF J100s in Florida, this one in Delray Beach.

Baierl, the 2022 Kalamazoo 16s and Eddie Herr 16s finalist defeated No. 7 seed Jack Satterfield 6-4, 6-4 to claim his third J100 title, but his first ITF Junior Circuit title of the year. Baierl, who will turn 17 next month, did not drop a set in his six victories this week.

It's the fourth title of the year for the 14-year-old Lyutova, who lives in the United States but currently represents Russia, the country where she was born. After winning three J30s already in 2024 and three J60s last year, this J100 is her biggest title on the ITF Junior Circuit and she had two tough matches to close it out. She defeated No. 16 seed Gabriella Vannessa Lindgren of Canada 7-5, 7-6(8) in the semifinals, and lost the first set to 13-year-old wild card Hannah Ayrault in today's final before claiming a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory. Ayrault had beaten top seed Nancy Lee 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(1) in the semifinals.

Satterfield and Jon Gamble, seeded No. 3, won the doubles title, beating the seventh-seeded Brazilian team of Lucca Acioly and Ettore Romeo Baggio Danesi 7-5, 6-3 in the final. 

The third-seeded girls team also emerged as the doubles champions, with Vessa Turley and Riley Crowder beating the unseeded team of Zaire Clarke and Canada's Clemence Mercier 6-2, 6-3 in the final.

The ATP Challenger 75 in Savannah will feature two former collegians, but no Americans in Sunday's singles championship, with former University of Virginia Cavalier Alexander Ritschard of Switzerland facing former University of Florida Gator Andres Andrade of Ecuador. Ritschard, the No. 5 seed, defeated Dmitry Popko of Kazakhstan 6-4, 7-6(4); Andrade, a qualifier, beat unseeded Maxime Janvier of France 7-5, 6-0. The 30-year-old Ritschard is looking for his second Challenger title; the 25-year-old Andrade had never reached a Challenger quarterfinal prior to this week.

No. 3 seeds Christian Harrison and Marcus Willis of Great Britain ended the winning streak of Johannes Ingildsen(Florida) of Denmark and Simon Freund(LSU/UC Santa Barbara) in today's doubles final, posting a 6-3, 6-3 victory. Ingildsen and Freund had beaten Harrison and Willis in the semifinals last week at the Tallahassee Challenger, en route to the title.

Cooper Woestendick and Alexander Razeghi dropped their first set of the week at the men's $15,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Vero Beach, but the 17-year-olds recovered to capture their first pro title, beating brothers Miles and Alex Jones 6-4, 4-6, 10-3 in today's final. 

In the singles semifinals, No. 3 seed Victor Lilov, the 2021 Wimbledon boys finalist, will face Duke senior Garrett Johns, the No. 2 seed, after Lilov defeated Miles 6-4, 0-6, 6-1 and Johns beat No. 5 seed Will Grant(Florida) 6-3, 7-5. 

The W75 in Charlottesville will also feature two Americans, with unseeded Louisa Chirico facing top seed Kayla Day. Chirico defeated 18-year-old Maya Joint of Australia 7-6(6), 6-1 and Day beat No. 3 seed Lulu Sun(Texas) of Switzerland 7-5, 6-2. Chirico will move into the picture in the USTA Roland Garros Wild Card race with a title, with one more week to go for the women. Day is already into the Roland Garros main draw.

Quinn Gleason(Notre Dame) and Great Britain's Emily Appleton, the top seeds, won the doubles title, beating unseeded Maria Kononova(North Texas) and Maria Kozyreva(St. Mary's) of Russia 7-6(5), 6-2 in today's final. 

The last two Power 5 conference tournaments conclude this weekend, with the No. 2 seed Stanford women blanking No. 4 seed Cal with the doubles point and straight-sets wins at the top 3 singles spots. Cal had upset top seed UCLA in the semifinals. 

The top-seeded Stanford men play No. 2 seed Arizona later tonight in Ojai.

The Big Ten's women's final Sunday will be, as expected, No. 1 seed Michigan versus No. 2 Ohio State, in Ann Arbor. Michigan defeated No. 4 Wisconsin 4-0 in Saturday's semifinals, with Ohio State beating No. 3 Northwestern 4-1. 

The top-seeded Ohio State men defeated surprise semifinalist Nebraska 4-1 to advance to the final, where they'll play No. 2 seed Michigan. Michigan came from 3-1 down to defeat Michigan State this evening at Northwestern, winning at singles lines 2, 4, 5 and 6.

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