Zink and Miller Claim First Professional Singles Titles at Huntsville $15Ks; ITF J300 College Park Wild Cards; Tiafoe and Pegula Advance to Cincinnati Masters Semifinals

Tyler Zink earned his first professional singles title and Kari Miller collected her first professional title today at the USTA Pro Circuit $15,000 tournaments in Huntsville Alabama. 

Zink, a recent Oklahoma State graduate, was the No. 8 seed this week, continuing the form he had shown in reaching the final at last week's $25K in Mississippi. The 23-year-old from Florida defeated No. 7 seed Leo Vithoontien(Carleton) of Japan, the 2021 NCAA Division III champion, 6-4, 6-1 in the men's final. 

Vithoontien also fell in the doubles final this afternoon, with partner Collin Altamirano(Virginia). The unseeded pair fell to No. 3 seeds Jamie Vance and Finn Reynolds(Mississippi) 6-4, 6-4.

While Zink has 13 pro titles in doubles, Miller, a recent Michigan graduate, won her first pro title in singles as a qualifier in Huntsville. 

The 22-year-old from Ann Arbor defeated Great Britain's Kristina Paskauskas, a sophomore at NC State, 6-2, 6-2 in the women's final. Miller defeated three seeds to get to the final against the unseeded Paskauskas.

Miller lost in the doubles final with incoming Michigan freshman Emily Sartz-Lunde of Norway. The unseeded pair were beaten by unseeded Carly Briggs(Tennessee, Florida) and Tenika McGiffin(Tennessee) of Australia 6-3 ,7-6(3) in this afternoon's final.

The first round of qualifying for the ITF J300 in College Park was completed today, but rain in the early evening kept the second round qualifying matches from finishing. So two rounds will be played Sunday; the qualifiers are then required to play again on Monday. The weather forecast is not good for Sunday, with an 80 percent chance of rain, but there are indoor courts on site at the Junior Tennis Champions Center, so that may turn out to be a huge help.

The main draw wild cards, which number just six in a 48-player draw, are:

Boys:

Jack Satterfield
Keaton Hance

Nathan Blokhin

Xingyu Chen

Eric Schinnerer

Arin Pallegar

Girls:

Ishika Ashar

Welles Newman

Maggie Sohns

Reiley Rhodes

Carolina Castro

Shristi Selvan

At the Masters 1000 Cincinnati Open, Frances Tiafoe and Jessica Pegula have advanced to Sunday's semifinals, with the tournament  having a Monday finishing date this year due to the Olympics.

Pegula, seeded No. 6, defeated Leylah Fernandez of Canada 7-5, 6-7(1), 7-6(3) to advance against Paula Badosa of Spain.  Iga Swiatek of Poland and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus will contest the other semifinal.

The unseeded Tiafoe advanced to his second ATP Masters 1000 semifinal when No. 5 seed Hurbert Hurkacz of Poland retired after losing the first set 6-3. Tiafoe will play the winner of tonight's quarterfinal match between No. 15 seed Holger Rune of Denmark and Jack Draper of Great Britain. No. 3 seed Alexander Zverev of Germany, who beat No. 12 seed Ben Shelton 3-6, 7-6(3), 7-5, faces No. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy in the other semifinal.