Zheng Claims Third Straight Challenger Title; Penickova and Ngounoue Win J200 and J100 Titles; Suresh, Brengle, Gadecki Champions on Pro Circuit; Anisimova Captures WTA 1000 in Bejing

Michael Zheng's Challenger run shows no signs of ending, with the Columbia senior winning his third straight title with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Tyler Zink today at the ATP Challenger 75 in Tiburon California. 

Zheng, whose only loss since the end of July came in the second round of US Open qualifying, didn't drop a set this week in extending his winning streak to 15 matches. The 2024 NCAA fall champion, who is not entered in next week's Challenger 50 in Fairfield California, is up to 178 now in the ATP live rankings. Zink, the 2024 Oklahoma State graduate, is now at 276 in the ATP live rankings.

Because I'll be onsite for the ITF J300 Pan American Closed tomorrow to start coverage of that event, I won't have any time to cover last week's ITF Junior Circuit events for Americans as I usually do on Monday. So in addition to yesterday's update on the  J200 in Corpus Christi, with all four titles going to Americans, I'll quickly recognize the singles champions in today's post.

Top seed Kristina Penickova won the title at the J200 in Korea, beating No. 5 seed Suha Lee of Korea 3-6, 6-1, 6-3 in the final.

At the ITF J100 in Ghana, top seed Carel Ngounoue defeated unseeded Simon Hayal 6-3, 6-4 in an all-USA boys singles final.

At the ITF J60 in the Dominican Republic, No. 5 seed Ariana Ikwueme won the girls singles title with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over No. 11 seed Julianny De La Cruz Champagne of the Dominican Republic.

And at the ITF J30 in Indonesia, 16-year-old Brandon Duan won the singles and doubles titles, his first two titles on the ITF Junior Circuit. The No. 8 seed in singles, he defeated No. 6 seed M Alfaradu Sumirat of Indonesia 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-2 in the final. He partnered with younger brother Brian for the doubles title, with the No. 4 seeds beating unseeded Run Ze Shi and Heran Zhang of China 6-4, 4-6, 10-4 in the final.

In addition to Zheng's title, another American won a Pro Circuit event in Northern California today, with Madison Brengle announcing her comeback from a nearly two-year absence by winning the W35 in San Rafael.  Brengle, 35, defeated 20-year-old Texas A&M junior Lucciana Perez of Peru 7-6(9), 6-0 for her first title since October of 2022.

The doubles title in San Rafael went to top seeds Francesca Pace of Italy and Zuzanna Pawalikowska of Poland, who beat No. 2 seeds Ziva Falkner and Marie Weckerle of Luxembourg 4-6, 6-3, 10-5 in the final. 

At the W50 in Rancho Santa Fe California, Olivia Gadecki won the all-Australian final, with the unseeded 23-year-old claiming the title with a 2-6, 6-2, 4-1 retired win over the third-seeded 17-year-old Emerson Jones. 

Wakana Sonobe, the 2025 Australian Open girls singles champion, won the doubles title in Rancho Santa Fe, partnering with Japanese compatriot Himeno Sakatsume. The unseeded pair defeated unseeded Americans of Fiona Crawley(UNC) and Jaeda Daniel(Auburn, NC State) 7-6(5), 3-6, 10-5 in today's final.

DK Suresh defended his title at the M15 in Winston-Salem NC, with the second-seeded Wake Forest senior beating No. 8 seed Shunsuke Mitsui(Tennessee) of Japan 6-0, 6-3 to add the singles title to the doubles title he won yesterday with teammate Andrew Delgado.

Amanda Anisimova captured the title at the WTA 1000 China Open in Beijing, beating Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic 6-0, 2-6, 6-2 in today's final. It's the second WTA 1000 title of the year for the Wimbledon and US Open finalist, who has now qualified for the year-end WTA Finals, as have Madison Keys and Coco Gauff.