Jones, Rottgering Win ITF WTT Junior Finals; Four Americans Claim ATP Titles; Monday Goes Back-to-Back, Suresh Earns First USTA Pro Circuit Title; First Pro Titles for Three Recent Collegians at WTT $15Ks

The ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals concluded today in Chengdu China, with top seed Emerson Jones of Australia winning the girls title and No. 3 seed Mees Rottgering of the Netherlands taking the boys championship.

Two-time junior slam finalist Jones, who went undefeated in round robin and knockout play, defeated Roland Garros finalist Laura Samson 6-4, 6-4. Jones, who lost her first set of the tournament to Jeline Vandromme of Belgium, has solidified her place at the top of the ITF junior rankings with this title, and I would be surprised to see her play any more junior events this year.

Wimbledon finalist Rottgering had the opportunity to avenge his loss to top seed Rafael Jodar of Spain two days ago in today's final and he did so, fighting back from 5-2 down in the second set to earn a 6-4, 7-6(2) victory. Rottgering's win snapped the Spaniard's 15-match winning streak on the ITF Junior Circuit, which extended back to his title at the College Park J300 in August.

Both Jones and Rottgering were the first players from their countries to compete in the Junior Finals (Jones joined by her brother Hayden), which have been played seven times since the first tournament in 2015.

Sunday's results:

Finals:

Emerson Jones[1](AUS) d. Laura Samson[3](CZE) 6-4, 6-4

Mees Rottgering[3](NED) d. Rafael Jodar[1](ESP) 6-4, 7-6(2)

3/4:

Jeline Vandromme[6](BEL) d. Mika Stojsavljevic[5](GBR) 6-3,  6-4

Charlie Robertson[6](GBR) d. Luca Preda(ROU) 6-3, ret.

5/6:

Tyra Grant[2](USA) d. Wakana Sonobe[4](JPN) 6-4, 7-6(5)

Maxim Mrva[4](CZE) d. Hayden Jones[7](AUS) 6-3, 6-1

7/8:

Kristina Penickova[7](USA) d. Antonia Vergara Rivera[8](CHI) 6-1, 6-1

Jangjun Kim[8](KOR) d. Jan Kumstat[5](CZE) 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4

Jones comes away with $19,000 in travel grants, while Rottgering earns $17,500.  Tyra Grant and Kristina Penickova will receive $10,000 and $8,750 respectively.

One of the previous champions, Anna Blinkova of Russia, who won the Junior Finals title in 2016, won the USTA Pro Circuit W100 in Macon Georgia today, with the No. 2 seed defeating No. 5 seed Ann Li 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(4).  No. 2 seeds Sophie Chang and Poland's Katarzyna Kawa won the doubles title, beating top seeds Quinn Gleason(Notre Dame) and Brazil's Ingrid Gammara Martins(South Carolina) 7-5, 6-4 in today's final. 

No. 2 seed Rebecca Marino won the ITF WTT women's W75+H in Calgary Canada today, beating qualifier Anna Rogers(NC State) 7-5, 6-4 in the final. Canada's Kayla Cross and Maribella Zamarripa(Texas) won the doubles title, beating Robin Anderson(UCLA) and Dalayna Hewitt 6-7(3), 7-5, 12-10 in the final. Neither team was seeded.

Four American men won ATP titles today, three on the Challenger Circuit and one on the ATP Tour. Tommy Paul won his second title at the ATP 250 in Stockholm Sweden, with the 27-year-old American, seeded fourth, beating No. 3 seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 6-4, 6-3 in the final. For more on Paul's third ATP title of the year, and fourth of his career, see this article from the ATP website.

Mackenzie McDonald[5] won the ATP Challenger 100 in China, with the 2016 NCAA singles champion at UCLA defeating top seed Arthur Cazaux of France 6-4, 7-6(4) in the final. The 29-year-old McDonald is now up to 120 in the ATP rankings, as he looks to secure a main draw spot at the Australian Open in 2015.

Tristan Boyer(Stanford) won his second Challenger title today at the 100 tournament in Brazil, beating Juan Pablo Ficovich of Argentina 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. Boyer, who beat Ficovich in his previous title run in Mexico, is now up to a new career-high of 159 in the ATP rankings.

The fourth title for an American went to a new Challenger champion, with Arizona State senior Murphy Cassone earning his first at the 75 tournament in Calgary Canada. Cassone defeated fellow qualifier Govind Nanda(UCLA) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to boost his ATP ranking to a career high of 363.

Rain delayed the final at the $25,000 men's tournament in Harlingen Texas, but ultimately it didn't stop recent Tennessee graduate Johannus Monday from winning his second straight $25K title today. The 22-year-old from Great Britain, who won the $25K in Louisville last week, defeated Czech qualifier Tadeas Paroulek(TCU, Baylor) 6-0, 6-1 to run his winning streak to 10 matches. 

Wake Forest junior DK Suresh of India won his first Pro Circuit  title, defeating teammate Luca Pow of Great Britain 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-5 in today's final at the $15,000 tournament in Winston-Salem NC.  Pow, who was such a reliable point as freshman in the bottom half of the Wake lineup last season, has made his case for a shot at the top half this year with this run. Pow had not won a main draw match on the Pro Circuit until this week.

I doubt I'll be able to feature today's $15K titles by recent collegians in my October Aces column, with all the other success at higher level tournaments, but there were three titles for Americans today outside the United States.  Malaika Rapolu, who completed her eligibility at Texas in May, picked up her first ITF WTT women's singles title at the tournament in Mexico. The unseeded 21-year-old defeated No. 3 seed Dasha Piekhanova of Canada 7-6(3), 7-5 in the final.

Cannon Kingsley, the recent Ohio State graduate, had lost in his previous three ITF men's WTT finals, but he got over that hump today in Greece. The No. 2 seed, Kingsley defeated No. 7 seed Adrian Bodmer of Switzerland 6-3, 7-6(4) in the final.

Cassone's teammate Max McKennon, who completed his eligibility at Arizona State in May, won his first title in Turkey. Unseeded, the 22-year-old left-hander, who didn't drop a set all week, defeated No. 7 seed Johan Rodriguez of Colombia 6-3, 6-2 in the final.