Fearnley and Michelsen Reach Bloomfield Hills Challenger 125 Final; Pareja Earns Washington WTA 500 Qualifying Win; Dolehide, Bynoe, Inoue and Rapolu In Pro Circuit Finals; Two Pairs of Teenaged Sisters Claim Doubles Titles

Top seed Alex Michelsen will have an opportunity to avenge his recent Wimbledon first round loss and end Jake Fearnley's Challenger winning streak Sunday in the final of the Cranbrook Tennis Classic.

Great Britain's Fearnley, who received a wild card after his ranking had fallen outside the Top 100, came from two sets down to beat Michelsen 3-6, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 last month. Both played the Newport Challenger 125 earlier this month, with Michelsen falling to Adam Walton in the semifinals, while Fearnley beat Walton in the final with another huge comeback, saving six match points after trailing the Australian 7-5, 5-1, eventually earning a 5-7, 7-6(8), 6-4 victory.

Fearnley, the eighth seed this week at the Challenger 125 in Bloomfield Hills, didn't need a comeback today, beating No. 6 seed Michael Zheng 6-3, 6-4 with little drama. Michelsen, on the other hand, needed three sets to get by lucky loser DK Suresh(Wake Forest) of India, but eventually secured a 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-2 win to make his first final since he the title at last April's Challenger 175 in Estoril Portugal.

Top seeds Trey Hilderbrand(UCF, Texas A&M) and JJ Tracy(Ohio State) won the doubles title today in their first tournament as a team, beating No. 3 seeds Pruchya Isaro of Thailand and Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha of Indian 6-3, 7-6(2).

At the ATP/WTA 500 Mubadala DC Open in Washington, wild card Julieta Pareja reached Sunday's final round of women's qualifying with a 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 6 seed Polina Iatcenko of Russia. She will play Heather Watson, who at 34 is exactly twice Pareja's age, for a place in the main draw. Wild card Clervie Ngounoue lost to No. 7 seed Varvara Lepchenko 6-1, 4-6, 6-4. Alana Smith(NC State), who got in as an alternate when Katie Swan of Great Britain withdrew, beat Lea Ma(Georgia) 6-4, 7-6(5) to set up a meeting with No. 2 seed Daria Kasatkina of Australia.  Former Syracuse All-American Gabriela Knutson of Czechia defeated top seed Shuai Zhang of China 6-4, 1-6, 6-1.

In men's qualifying, two wild cards advanced, with Wimbledon boys finalist Cruz Hewitt of Australia moving on when No. 8 seed Dusan Lajovic of Serbia retired trailing 5-2. He will face top seed Zachary Svajda, who beat Stefan Kozlov 7-5, 6-1. Svajda's younger brother Trevor(SMU) was the other wild card to post a victory, beating No. 12 seed Elias Ymer of Sweden 6-0, 7-6(5). He will play No. 6 seed Mackenzie McDonald(UCLA) for a spot in the main draw.

Wimbledon boys champion Jordan Lee lost to No. 7 seed Moez Echargui(Nevada) of Tunisia 7-5, 6-1. Echargui will play Andres Martin, who made it to DC from Bloomfield Hills, where he played yesterday afternoon, and didn't skip a beat, defeating No. 5 seed Christopher O'Connell of Australian 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.  Wake Forest sophomore Aryan Shah of India, the fourth wild card, lost to No. 2 seed Marcos Giron(UCLA) 7-5, 6-4.

Other Americans in the final round of men's qualifying are Andre Ilagan(Hawaii) and No. 4 seed Martin Damm.

While Kozlov and Lee lost in singles, the wild cards did win their first doubles qualifying match, beating No. 2 seeds Ariel Behar of Uruguay and Anirudh Chandrasekar of India 6-3, 6-2. They will play the veteran team of JP Smith(Tennessee) of Australia and Fernando Romboli of Brazil for a spot in the men's doubles draw.

Caroline Dolehide has reached her first tournament final since October 2024 at the W100 in Evansville Indiana. The unseeded 27-year-old from Illinois, who has played only eight tournaments this year, defeated top seed Renata Zarazua of Mexico 7-5, 6-4 in today's semifinal and will face Yeonwoo Ku of Korea, also unseeded, for the title. Ku beat No. 2 seed Dasha Vidmanova(Georgia) and No. 6 seed Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M) in back-to-back three-setters, then defeated unseeded Lucrezia Stefanini of Italy 6-4, 6-2 in today's semifinals.

The doubles title went to top seeds I-Hsuan Cho and Yi Tsen Cho of Taiwan, who beat No. 2 seeds Kayla Cross(LSU) of Canada and Anna Rogers(NC State) 6-2, 6-3 in today's final.

At the M25 in Champaign Illinois, unseeded Evan Bynoe(Cornell) has advanced to his first Pro Circuit final at the age of 27. The previous best result for Bynoe at an M25 came last year, when he reached the Edwardsville quarterfinals.  Bynoe, currently 965 in the ATP rankings, defeated qualifier Mitchell Sheldon(Michigan State) 7-6(4), 7-6(4) and will face 20-year-old Naoya Honda of Japan, the fifth seed, in the final. Honda, a former Top 10 World Tennis junior, defeated Will Jansen(UNC, Ohio State, Georgia) 7-6(4), 7-6(5) in today's semifinals.

Unseeded Nikita Filin(Ohio State) and Tyler Bowers(Illinois, Auburb) won the doubles title, beating unseeded Vignesh Gogineni(Yale) and Billy Suarez(Tulane) 4-6, 6-3, 10-7 in this evening's final. It's the second Pro Circuit doubles title for Filin and the first for Bowers.

The only all-USA final Sunday on the USTA Pro Circuit will be at the W35 in Santa Fe New Mexico, with top seed Hina Inoue facing No. 5 seed Malaika Rapolu(Texas). Inoue defeated unseeded Dana Guzman (Oklahoma) of Peru 6-1, 6-4, while Rapolu beat No. 2 seed Angelina Voloshchuk of Portugal 6-2, 6-4 in today's semifinals. 

The Penickovas twins with the March 2025 San Diego J300 doubles trophies

Twin sisters Annika and Kristina Penickova won their first W35 doubles title together and their third Pro Circuit doubles title as a team today in Santa Fe, with the unseeded 16-year-olds beating unseeded Carolina Gomez(Arkansas) of Spain and Celine Simunyu(Arkansas) of Ireland 6-3, 6-3 in the final. Annika won a W35 title in May with Capucine Jauffret; Kristina won a W15 title this summer with Jauffret during the SoCal Pro Series.

And at the W15 in Huamantla Mexico, 18-year-old Olivia Allegre(UC San Diego) and 16-year-old sister Camille won their first Pro Circuit title, with the unseeded pair defeating unseeded Jayna Clemens(Mississippi State, San Diego State) and Kallista Liu(Maryland) of Hong Kong 6-3, 6-3 in today's final.