Damm and Jodar Meet Again for Challenger Title in Charlottesville; Tanguilig and Martinez Eye Sweeps in Sumter and Harlingen; Crawley Reaches W75 Final in Canada; Historic Titles for Pagonis and Çukurluoglu at Tennis Europe Junior Masters
Martin Damm and Rafael Jodar will meet again in a Challenger final, just two weeks after Jodar claimed his second career Challenger title with a 6-7(3), 6-3, 6-3 victory in the championships match in Lincoln Nebraska.
No. 7 seed Jodar, a sophomore at the University of Virginia, advanced to his third Challenger final with a 6-4, 4-2, retired win over No. 8 seed Johannes Monday(Tennessee) of Great Britain this afternoon at the ATP Challenger 75 in Charlottesville.
No. 6 seed Damm reached his fourth Challenger final with a 7-6(3), 6-4 win over qualifier Mats Rosenkranz of Germany, blasting 21 aces past his fellow left-hander in the second semifinal of the day. Damm is 0-3 in his Challenger final appearances, with this the third in the past two months.
The doubles championship was between two unseeded teams, with Tim Ruehl(Arizona State, TCU) and Patrick Zahraj(UCLA) of Germany saving a match point in their 3-6, 7-5, 12-10 win over Mac Kiger(North Carolina) and Justin Boulais(Ohio State) of Canada.
Former Oklahoma All-American Alex Martinez won his first M25 title in June in Tulsa; the 24-year-old from Spain, seeded No. 8, will play for his second Sunday in Harlingen Texas after beating No. 2 seed Henry Searle of Great Britain 7-6(6), 5-7, 7-6(6) in a three-hour, one-minute semifinal. Martinez had also beaten Searle in a long first round match last year in a Challenger 125, where Martinez advanced to the quarterfinals.
Martinez will face No. 6 seed Aidan McHugh of Great Britain, who had a much shorter stay on court today, beating qualifier Zsombor Velcz(Baylor) of Hungary 6-0, 6-0 in 71 minutes. Velcz had beaten top seed Adrian Boitan(Baylor) in a three-hour and 36-minute quarterfinal Friday.
Martinez won his fourth ITF men's World Tennis Tour doubles title, all at the M25 level, with partner Abraham Asaba(Monmouth, Virginia Tech) of Ghana. The No. 2 seeds didn't need to play a point in the final, with Mariano Dedura-Palomero(Texas) and Sydney Zick of Germany giving them a walkover.
2024 North Carolina graduate Carson Tanguilig won her first pro title today at the W15 in Sumter South Carolina, in doubles, and will aim for her second Sunday in singles. Tanguilig, the 2023 NCAA doubles champion (with Fiona Crawley), partnered with former Michigan star Jaedan Brown, defeating 18-year-olds Bella Payne and Sara Shumate 6-2, 4-6, 10-6 in the final. It's also Brown's first pro title.
Tanguilig, a qualifier, reached her first Pro Circuit singles final with a 7-6(4), 6-3 win over 15-year-old wild card Janae Preston and will face No. 5 seed Rose Marie Nijkamp of the Netherlands, a sophomore at Oklahoma State for the title. Nijkamp beat 16-year-old Thea Frodin 7-5, 6-1 in today's semifinals.
Tanguilig's former teammate and doubles partner Crawley has advanced to the final of the W75 in Toronto Canada, with the unseeded 23-year-old beating No. 4 seed Kayla Cross(LSU) of Canada 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 in today. Crawley, who defeated No. 7 seed Kayla Day in the first round and top seed Louisa Chirico in the quarterfinals, will face No. 3 seed Harriet Dart of Great Britain in Sunday's final.
Crawley also reached today's doubles final, with NC State's 2022 NCAA doubles champion Jaeda Daniel. The unseeded pair lost to No. 4 seeds Viktoria Hruncakova of Slovakia and Anastasia Tikhonova of Russia 6-4, 6-2 in today's final.
Late last month, Tennis Europe held its annual Masters event for the 16s and 14s in Monte Carlo, with Tea Kovacevic of Bosnia and Savva Rybkin of Russia taking the 16s titles.
Kovacevic, 15, defended her title with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Maria Valentina Pop of Romania. Rybkin defeated Stan Put of the Netherlands 6-1, 6-3 in the boys final.
Both 14s champions made history for their countries with three-set victories in the finals. Rafael Pagonis of Greece, the European 14s and Wimbledon 14s champion, defeating Max Lorincik of Slovakia 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the boys final. Pagonis, the first Greek to win a Masters title, ends his stellar season with a 51-5 record.
For more on the finals and links to the draws, see the Tennis Europe tournament site.
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