Liutova Faces Vidmanova for Memphis WTA 250 Title; Penikcova Goes for Sweep vs Charney in Florence; 2025 USTA National 18s Doubles Champions Win Pro Circuit Titles; Baris and Gogineni Advance to Edwardsville M25 Final; Akli Reaches W75 Lexington Final

Kristina Liutova will play for the WTA 250 Memphis Open title Sunday in her first appearance in a WTA main draw, facing 2024 NCAA singles champion Dasha Vidmanova of Czechia, who also has reached her first WTA final this week.

Liutova did not need a comeback in her 7-5, 6-1 semifinal win over Elvina Kalieva today, with the 16-year-old qualifier taking control of the match with a break at 5-all in the first set, and rolling from there. Liutova, who had to win a third-set tiebreaker against WTA 619 Mariia Kozyreva(St. Marys) in the final round of qualifying, defeated three WTA Top 100 players to reach the semifinals: Ekaterina Alexandrova, Maya Joint and Caty McNally. 

The 23-year-old Vidmanova, who won all three NCAA titles--singles, doubles and team--in her career at Georgia, began the week at 114 in the WTA rankings and is unseeded, but has picked up two Top 100 wins of her won this week over Katie Volynets 6-5, 6-7(5), 6-1 in the quarterfinals and Renata Zarazua of Mexico in today's semifinal, 6-3, 6-3.

Sixteen-year-old Annika Penickova is through to her second USTA Pro Circuit singles final and the first above the W15 level after her 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 win today over No. 2 seed Angelina Voloshchuk of Portugal at the W35 in Florence South Carolina. Penickova will play 21-year-old Michigan rising senior Piper Charney, a qualifier, who reached her first career Pro Circuit final with a 7-6(7), 6-4 win over UCLA rising sophomore Mayu Crossley of Japan.

Penickova then added a second straight W35 doubles title with twin sister Kristina, who defeated fellow unseeded teens Alyssa Ahn(Stanford) and Krisha Mahendran(USC) of India 6-3, 6-3 in the final. Annika and Kristina are now on an eight-match winning streak in doubles, having won last week's W35 in Santa Fe New Mexico.

Kristina, who won the USTA National 18s title in San Diego last August with Thea Frodin while Annika was out with an injury, was one of three Americans who won 2025 National 18s titles today.

At the M25 in Edwardsville Illinois, Kalamazoo 18s champions Max Exsted(USC) and Cooper Woestendick(TCU), seeded third, defeated 2026 US Open Collegiate Playoff champions Brandon Carpico and Nikita Filin(Ohio State) 6-4, 6-3 in the semifinals and Jack Anthrop(Ohio State) and Noah Zamora(UC-Irvine) 6-1, 6-1 in the final. Exsted and Woestendick, who won their first round match last year at the US Open, have not played together since falling to No. 6 seeds Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski of Great Britain 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 in the second round in New York. But they did not drop a set this week, proving that their chemistry survived their collegiate schedules. It's Exsted's second title of the summer, having won the M15 in San Diego with Noah Johnston(Georgia).

All five matches (doubles semifinals and final, singles semifinals) on the schedule Saturday at Edwardsville were played indoor due to rain, with No. 5 seed Ozan Baris(Michigan State) extending his winning streak to nine matches with a 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over top seed Johannus Monday(Tennessee) of Great Britain.

Baris, who won the Louisville M25 title two weeks ago, will face unseeded Vignesh Gogineni, the recent Yale graduate, who advanced to his first Pro Circuit final with a 6-2, 4-1 retired victory over No. 7 seed Bruno Kuzuhara(Clemson).

Rain also disrupted the semifinals of the W75 in Lexington Kentucky, but No. 3 seed Ayana Akli(Maryland, South Carolina) returned from the delay at 6-3, 5-3 to close out doubles partnery and No. 2 seed Fiona Crawley(UNC). Crawley had saved four match points before the rain delay, but couldn't save a fifth two points after resumption of the match. The 25-year-old Akli will play for her biggest title Sunday against unseeded Anastasia Kulikova of Finland, who beat unseeded Kylie Collins(Texas, LSU, Oklahoma State) 6-4, 2-6, 7-5. 

Akli and Crawley, the No. 2 seeds, are playing top seeds Collins and Savannah Broadus in tonight's doubles final.