Three All-US Finals Sunday in Newport, Evansville and Rochester, One All-British Final in Michigan, With Collegians in Each One; Blanch Reaches First ITF Men's Pro Circuit Final

The singles championship match in the last edition of the ATP Hall of Fame Open 250 in Newport Rhode Island was going to feature two Americans after yesterday's quarterfinals, and it is the two Southern Californians who will meet for a first ATP title Sunday, with 19-year-old Alex Michelsen facing 30-year-old Marcos Giron(UCLA).

No. 3 seed Michelsen, who made a surprise run to the Newport final last year, defended those points with a convincing 6-2, 6-0 win over wild card Reilly Opelka. Michelsen went 2-5 on the ATP grass court swing in Europe, but has posted three straight-sets wins this week. Giron, the No. 2 seed, went 5-4 on the pro grass court circuit, and has earned a spot in his third ATP final with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 semfinal win over No. 4 seed Chris Eubanks(Georgia Tech). 

Giron, who won the NCAA singles title in 2014, won't be the only NCAA champion in action in Newport Sunday, with 2024 doubles champions Robert Cash and JJ Tracy of Ohio State advancing to the final as a wild cards.  Cash and Tracy, playing in their first ATP event, defeated Anirudh Chandrasekar and Arjun Kadhe(Oklahoma State) of India 6-4, 6-3 in yesterday's semifinals and will face No. 6 seeds Andre Goransson(Cal) of Sweden and Sem Verbeek(Pacific) of the Netherlands for the title Sunday.

Texas A&M rising senior Mary Stoiana has reached the biggest pro final of her career at the $75,000 USTA women's Pro Circuit event in Evansville Indiana. The 21-year-old from Connecticut defeated 2023 NCAA singles champion Tian Fangran(UCLA) of China 6-3, 6-7(5), 7-5 in a semifinal that took three hours and 21 minutes to determine the winner. Stoiana will face Sophie Chang, who, like Stoiana, is unseeded, with Chang posting a 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 semifinal win over Iryna Shymanovich of Belarus. The 27-year-old Chang certainly has the edge in experience, having played 503 Pro Circuit singles matches, compared to 41 for Stoiana.

The quick ascension through the ATP Challenger circuit of Ryan Seggerman and Patrik Trhac and other recent collegians has been widely noted, but former Baylor standouts Melany Krywoj of Argentina and Alicia Herrero Linana of Spain are having similar success on the ITF women's circuit this year, winning their fifth title, and third in succession today in Evansville. The No. 2 seeds defeated the unseeded team of Sahaja Yamalapalli(Sam Houston State) of India and Hiroko Kuwata of Japan 6-2, 6-0 for their second title at a W75 this summer, with a W35 title sandwiched in between.

Recent Tennessee graduate Johannus Monday returned to competition this month after an injury forced him out of the NCAA singles competition in May, and the 22-year-old from Great Britain has quickly rebounded from the layoff. After dropping his first round match at the $25K in Dallas last week, the sixth seed is through to the final this week at the $25K in East Lansing Michigan, defeating Stanford rising sophomore Kyle Kang 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in today's semifinals. He will play compatriot Aidan McHugh, the top seed, who defeated Aidan Kim(Florida, Ohio State) 6-2, 6-3.

Joshua Sheehy(Abliene Christian) and Antigua's Jody Maginley won the doubles titles in East Lansing, with the top seeds beating No. 2 seeds Ben Jones of Great Britain and Duarte Vale(Florida) of Portugal 7-5, 6-2 in the final. It's the fourth title for the pair, and their third this year.

At the $15,000 USTA men's Pro Circuit tournament in Rochester New York, the doubles champions will face off in the singles final, with recent Oklahoma State graduate Tyler Zink playing Ohio State junior Alexander Bernard Sunday. The unseeded Bernard defeated No. 7 seed Samir Banerjee(Stanford) 7-5, 6-4 in today's semifinal, while Zink, also unseeded, reached his first Pro Circuit singles final with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Benjamin George(Western Mich) of Canada.  Zink and Bernard, also unseeded in doubles, defeated No. 2 seeds Benjamin Kittay(UNC) and Laurence Sciglitano(George Washington, Boise State, Montana) of Australia 7-6(0), 7-6(4) in today's doubles final, earning their first title as a team.

Darwin Blanch, who has played exclusively on the Pro Circuit this year, has reached the first pro final of his career at the ITF men's $15,000 World Tennis Tour tournament in Tunisia. The unseeded 16-year-old, who has entered Kalamazoo and is expected to return to the United States to train prior to that tournament, has not dropped a set this week. He will play only his second seeded opponent of the week in the final: No. 2 Eliakim Coulibaly of the Ivory Coast.