Quinn, Mayo, Boyer Claim Challenger Titles; Americans Sweep All USTA Pro Circuit Tournaments, with Rapolu Winning Third Straight Title at Austin W50; Fritz Falls in ATP Finals, Puetz Captures Doubles Title

Ethan Quinn had lost three Challenger matches to Nishesh Basavareddy, two of them this fall, but he rekindled that rivalry today, with the 2023 NCAA singles champion defeating the fifth-seeded Stanford junior 6-3, 6-1 in the final of the ATP Challenger 75 in Champaign Illinois for his first Challenger title.

After Basavareddy had played so well in his 6-1, 6-1 win over Eliot Spizzirri in the semifinals, clinching the USTA's reciprocal Australian Open wild card, he struggled with his serve in the final, ending with 11 double faults. The 20-year-old Quinn, who left Georgia after winning the NCAA title as a freshman, hadn't been in a Challenger final since February, but he was outstanding all week in Champaign, getting his first ATP Top 100 win in the first round against top seed Adam Walton, his first of five straight-sets. Against Basavareddy, he saved all ten of the break points he faced, coming from 0-40 down in back-to-back service games in the first set. Quinn is now up to a career-high 204 in the ATP rankings, guaranteeing himself a spot in the Australian Open qualifying to start the year. 

Americans won three of the five Challengers this week, with Tristan Boyer(Stanford) earning his third at the 100 in Montevideo Uruguay, and Mayo capturing his first at the 75 in Drummondville Canada.

Boyer, 23, who was unseeded, defeated the No. 8, No. 2 and No. 4 seeds en route to the final, all in straight sets, where he beat No. 5 seed Hugo Dellien of Bolivia 6-2, 6-4. Boyer is now up to a career-high 120 in the ATP rankings. 

Mayo, 21, had made one Challenger final before this week, at Charlottesvile last year. In Drummondville, he won four matches in three sets, including today's final, where he defeated recent Virginia graduate Chris Rodesch of Luxembourg 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. Mayo got his second ATP Top 100 win in the opening round against No. 2 seed Aleks Kovacevic(Illinois), who retired at 2-6, 7-6(3), 2-1. Although shy of his career-high ATP ranking of 268, Mayo is up to 304, which should keep him out of Challenger qualifying in 2025.

Recent University of Texas graduate Malaika Rapolu returned to her home courts in Austin with her first two ITF women's World Tennis Tour titles, both of them coming at W15s in Mexico last month. At this week's W50, Rapolu extended that winning streak to 15 matches, beating fellow wild card Kari Miller(Michigan) 6-4, 6-2 in today's final. The 21-year-old Texan, who was 1249 in the WTA rankings when she finished school in May, is now up to 564 in the live rankings with this title.

Ohio State sophomore Aidan Kim will begin his pursuit of an NCAA singles title next week in Waco with the confidence that comes from a first Pro Circuit singles title. The 19-year-old from Michigan took advantage of playing on his home courts this week at the $25,000 USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Columbus, with the No. 5 seed beating No. 3 seed Aristotelis Thanos of Greece 7-5, 6-1 in today's final. Thanos, a sophomore at Michigan State, is also heading to the NCAA tournament, with play beginning Tuesday.

One current collegian who did not qualify for the NCAAs this fall is Southern California junior Emma Charney, but she now has a nice consolation prize with her first Pro Circuit title this week at the W15 in Clemson South Carolina. The 21-year-old has played only seven Pro Circuit tournaments, all but one in her two homes in Southern California or South Carolina. This week she won seven matches without dropping a set, coming through qualifying while defeating the No. 2 and No. 1 seeds. The latter win came in today's final, where she beat former North Carolina All-American Sara Daavettila 7-6(4), 7-6(3). 

Charney wasn't the only Trojan to claim a title this week, with Stefan Dostanic, an All American at USC in 2022, who is expected to finish his eligibility at Wake Forest this spring, earning his second $15,000 title. The 23-year-old, seeded No. 4, defeated qualifier Ilgiz Valiev of Russia 6-4, 6-2 in today's final in Boca Raton Florida.

It was déjà vu for Taylor Fritz today in the Nitto ATP Finals final against Jannik Sinner, with the Italian repeating his 6-4, 6-4 victory in group play earlier in the week in the championship match. Sinner is the first player to win the title without dropping a set since Ivan Lendl in 1986. With his appearance in the final, Fritz will move to a new career-high ATP ranking of 4.

As happened at last week's women's WTA Tour Finals, a former collegian captured the men's title in doubles today, with 2011 Auburn All-American Tim Puetz taking the Nitto ATP Final title with fellow German Kevin Krawietz. The first all-German team to claim the year-end title, the eighth-seeded Puetz and Krawietz got their second win of the week over No. 1 Marcelo Arevalo(Tulsa) of El Salvador and Mate Pavic of Croatia in today's final, 7-6(5), 7-6(6).