Townsend Claims $80K Title in Dothan; Bryde Qualifies at Tallahassee Challenger; US Women Reach Fed Cup Final; Vanderbilt Women Beat Florida to Win SEC Tournament

2012 ITF World Junior champion Taylor Townsend won the $80,000 USTA Women's Pro Circuit event in Dothan Alabama this morning, moving her into the WTA Top 100 and giving her a comfortable lead in the USTA's Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge.  The fourth-seeded Townsend, who turned 22 last week, defeated No. 5 seed Mariana Duque-Marino of Colombia 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 in the final, and with the 115 points she earned today, along with the 29 she received last week as a semifinalist in Indian Harbour Beach, she now leads IHB champion Caroline Dolehide 144 to 80 in the wild card race. She'll move to 91 in the WTA rankings, just 2 places off her career high.  Townsend is entered in next week's $80,000 event in Charlottesville, with qualifying underway there in the third of four tournaments that make up the Wild Card Challenge.

At the $100,000 ATP Challenger in Sarasota, Hugo Dellien of Bolivia took the title, beating Facundo Bagnis of Argentina 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.  Hunter Reese and Evan King won the doubles title, defeating Christian Harrison and Canadian Peter Polansky 6-1, 6-2 in the final. It's their third title as a team, with the other two coming last year in Futures tournaments. 

Chris Eubanks fell in the final of the $50,000+H Guadalajara Challenger, with No. 6 seed Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador beating the former Georgia Tech star 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(5). Former Tulsa standout Arevalo also won the doubles title, teaming with former Texas Longhorn Miguel Reyes-Varela of Mexico. The No. 1 seeds defeated Brydan Klein of Great Britain and Ruan Roelofse (Illinois) of South Africa 7-6(3), 7-5 in the final.

Top seed Noah Rubin lost in the final of the $15,000 Orange Park Florida Futures, with No. 2 seed Marcelo Barrios Vera of Chile prevailing 6-3, 6-4.  The doubles title went to Christopher Haworth(Oklahoma State) and Isaiah Strode, with the unseeded pair defeating No. 3 seeds Nick Chappell(TCU) and Raleigh Smith(Northwestern) 6-4, 1-6, 11-9 in the final.

Next week's Futures event on the USTA Pro Circuit is in Vero Beach Florida, with qualifying scheduled to finish on Monday for the $15,000 tournament.

The next US stop on the ATP Challenger circuit is Tallahassee, with qualifying completed today at the $75,000 tournament.  Eighteen-year-old Trent Bryde, who signed last week with the University of Georgia, has made it through qualifying, beating No. 3 seed Frank Dancevic of Canada 6-4, 6-2 in the final round today. Bryde will face fellow qualifier Federico Coria of Argentina in the first round tomorrow. Denis Kudla is the top seed, with DJ Thomas, JC Aragone, Jared Hiltzik and Florida State junior Aziz Dougaz of Tunisia receiving wild cards.

The US women will defend their Fed Cup title against the Czech Republic in November after defeating host France 3-2 in this weekend's semifinals.  Sloane Stephens defeated Kristina Mladenovic 6-2, 6-0 to give the US a 2-1 lead and Madison Keys beat Pauline Parmentier 7-6(4), 6-4 to clinch the tie for the Americans.  The Czech Republic defeated Germany 4-1 and will host the final.  Kathy Rinaldi is now 5-0 since taking over the Fed Cup captaincy from Mary Joe Fernandez.

The Bryan brothers won their second consecutive Masters title and their 38th overall this week in Monte Carlo, defeating Oliver Marach of Austria and Mate Pavic of Croatia 7-6(5), 6-3 in the final. The former Stanford stars turn 40 next Sunday.

Lots of action in college tennis today, with one Power 5 conference tournament now decided, the women's SEC.  Vanderbilt, the regular season champion, added the tournament title to their haul this year, beating Florida 4-0 in today's final.  Rhiannon Potkey has a detailed look at today's final at the Tennis Recruiting Network.

To keep tabs on all the conference tournaments and their implications for the NCAAs, see the Slam Tennis site, an offshoot of Tennis Recruiting Network, and College Tennis Today.