Zheng and Damm Meet for Columbus Challenger Title; Smith and Alvarez in Fayetteville M15 Final; Exsted Wins First Pro Title; USA Tops Great Britain to Reach BJK Cup Final

The run of the two qualifiers in the semifinals of the ATP Challenger 75 in Columbus came to an end with Michael Zheng and No. 7 seed Martin Damm advancing to Sunday's final in straight sets today at the Ty Tucker Tennis Center at Ohio State.

Zheng, a 21-year-old senior at Columbia, defeated Daniel Masur of Germany 6-3, 6-2 to make his second straight Challenger final after winning his first Challenger title in Chicago last month. 

Damm, who turns 22 in 10 days, will be playing for his first Challenger title Sunday after beating Stanford senior Samir Banerjee 6-4, 6-2. Damm reached his only other Challenger final back in January of 2024.

In the doubles final today, unseeded Patrick Harper(Tennessee) and Johannus Monday(Tennessee) beat No. 2 seeds George Goldoff(Texas) and Theo Winegar(Columbia, Duke) 6-4, 6-3. It's the second Challenger title for Monday and Harper, who won their first last fall at the Knoxville Challenger.

At the Challenger 125 in France this week, Mac Kiger(North Carolina) and Trey Hilderbrand(Central Florida, Texas A&M) won their first title as a team. The unseeded pair defeated unseeded Patrik Niklas-Salminen of Finland and Matej Vocel(Oklahoma State, Ohio State) of the Czech Republic 7-6(5), 7-5.

No. 3 seed Keegan Smith(UCLA) will play for his fourth ITF men's World Tennis Tour singles title and his second this year at the M15 in Fayetteville Arkansas after battling past qualifier Sebastian Eriksson of Sweden, a sophomore at Texas, 7-6(1), 6-7(5), 6-3 in two hours and 45 minutes. His opponent in Sunday's final is No. 4 seed Luis Alvarez of Mexico, a senior at Oklahoma, who spent an hour less on court today. After playing nearly four hours on Friday to get past qualifier Alex Kotzen, Alvarez still had enough left to  beat No. 5 seed Raphael Perot(Texas A&M) of France 6-4, 6-4 today.

Maxwell Exsted, who won the Kalamazoo 18s doubles title this year with Cooper Woestendick and won a round at the US Open with their wild card, claimed his first pro title today at the ITF M15 in Turkey. Seeded No. 1 this week with 26-year-old Ivan Marrero Curbelo of Spain, the 18-year-old from Minnesota defeated No. 2 seeds Constantin Bittoun Kouzmine of France and Semen Pankin of Russia 6-2, 4-6, 10-7 in the final. 

The United States is through to its first Billie Jean King Cup final since 2018 after defeating Great Britain today 2-0, with Emma Navarro and Jessica Pegula both coming from a set down to claim singles victories. The final against Italy, the defending champions, is early Sunday morning. The USTA's release is below:

The United States is back into the Billie Jean King Cup final for the first time since 2018 thanks to Emma Navarro and Jessica Pegula each scoring comeback singles victories to lift the Americans past Great Britain, 2-0, in a semifinal tie on Saturday in Shenzhen, China.

 

Navarro and Pegula each rallied from a set down to beat Sonay Kartal and Katie Boulter, respectively, to improve the USA's all-time record against Great Britain to 10-1. The two nations hadn't played since 1992, and the Brits haven't beaten the Americans in Billie Jean King Cup since 1970.

 

The U.S. will now face defending champions Italy in Sunday's final, which begins at 5 p.m. local time (5 a.m. ET). The Italians, who are led by world No. 5 Jasmine Paolini, defeated Ukraine in a Friday semifinal. 

 

The U.S. and Italy have an extensive history in this competition dating back to its debut year in 1963. While the U.S. leads the all-time head-to-head with a 10-5 record, the Italians have won the last five matchups, all played between 2009-15. Italy won the title four times between 2006-13.

 

The U.S. has won the the Billie Jean King Cup title a record 18 times. Its last victory came in 2017 over Belarus in Minsk. 

 

The lineups for Sunday's final are set one hour prior to the start of the tie. The first team to win two of three matches wins.