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Sunday, October 21, 2018

Crawford Cruises to First Futures Title; Saitoh and Tauson Triumph at Grade A in Japan; Lynn, Fradkin, Wiersholm and Blanch Claim ITF Junior Circuit Singles Titles; Krajicek and Ram Win ATP Title in Moscow

Nineteen-year-old wild card Oliver Crawford won his first Pro Circuit title today at the $25,000 Futures in Harlingen Texas. The University of Florida sophomore, who lost only one set all week, defeated qualifier Andrew Watson of Great Britain, a recent University of Memphis graduate, 6-1, 6-1 in the final, needing only an hour and 11 minutes to secure the title.  Crawford, who had never advanced beyond the quarterfinals of a Futures before, will move into the 700s in the ATP rankings with the win, and, importantly, has secured ATP points that will help him gain entry into the new ITF World Tennis Tour next year.

Eighteen-year-old Bianca Andreescu of Canada won the the $25,000 USTA Women's Pro Circuit event in Florence South Carolina, with the No. 3 seed defeating unseeded Mari Osaka of Japan 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 in the final.

The ITF Grade A Osaka Mayor's Cup concluded today in Japan with top seed Clara Tauson of Denmark and unseeded Keisuke Saitoh of Japan taking the titles. Tauson, who won her quarterfinal and semifinal matches without dropping a game and lost only eight games all week, defeated No. 2 seed Qinwen Zheng of China 6-1, 6-0 in the final for her first Grade A final. The 17-year-old Saitoh, 264 in the ITF Junior rankings coming into the tournament, beat top seed Valentin Royer of France 5-7, 6-1, 6-2 in the semifinals and No. 2 seed Bu Yunchaokete of China 7-5, 6-0 in the final.

Japan swept the doubles titles, with unseeded Tomoya Ikeda and Shunsuke Mitsui beating unseeded Tomoya Fujiwara and Taiyo Yamanaka, also of Japan, 6-1, 7-5 in the boys final.  No. 7 seeds Mana Kawamura and Funa Kozaki defeated top seed seeds Zheng and Himari Sato of Japan 7-6(3), 6-4 in the girls final.

American juniors won ITF Junior Circuit singles titles on three continents this weekend. At the Grade 4 in Brazil, No. 5 seed Dali Blanch defeated fellow 15-year-old and top seed Pedro Boscardin Dias of Brazil 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 in the final. It's the second ITF Junior Circuit title for Blanch, both coming in the past two months.

At the ITF Grade 4 in Denmark, 14-year-old Katja Wiersholm won her third singles title since July. The No. 8 seed defeated No. 6 seed Agnes Gustafsson of France 6-3, 6-2 in the singles final, while also reaching the doubles final with Elinor Storkaas of Norway.

The Grade 5 in Bermuda produced four titles for American juniors.  Fourteen-year-old Rebecca Lynn, who reached the final last week at the Grade 5 in the Dominican Republic, won her first ITF Junior Circuit title with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over top seed Nicole Kiefer. Kiefer and Shirley Liang of Canada won the doubles title, with the top seeds defeating No. 2 seeds Kyra Foster and Canada's Petra Miszczak 3-6, 6-2, 10-7.  Seventeen-year-old Jeffrey Fradkin, the No. 2 seed, swept the boys titles, winning his first ITF Junior Circuit singles title with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over No. 3 seed Christopher Heck of Canada. In the doubles, Spencer Brachman and Fradkin, the top seeds, beat Matthew Doe of Great Britain and Richard Mallory of Bermuda 6-4, 6-4 in the final.

Three other US junior girls won doubles titles. At the Grade 5 in Kuwait, Lauren Cooper, playing with France's Brigitte Manceau, took the girls doubles championship. The unseeded pair beat top seed Oceane Babel of France and Elena Karner of Austria 7-6(6), 6-3 in the final.

At the Grade 5 in British Columbia, Jenna De Falco partnered with Canada's Leena Bennetto for the girls doubles championship. The top seeds defeated No. 4 seeds Alexandra Nielsen and Chae Eun Yoo of Canada 6-3, 3-6, 12-10 in the final.

At the Grade 4 in Morocco, Elizabeth Stevens partnered with Julie Belgraver of France for the girls doubles title, with the top seeds beating No. 2 seeds Oumaima Aziz of Morocco and Luisa Meyer Auf der Heide of Germany 1-4, 4-2, 10-6 in the final. Weather obviously was an issue there, with 11 matches played on the final day.

2011 NCAA doubles champion Austin Krajicek won his first ATP doubles title today at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow. The former Texas A&M star, now 28-years-old, partnered with Rajeev Ram(Illinois) to defeat defending champions Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Philipp Oswald of Austria 7-6(4), 6-4 in the final. Krajicek, who had reached two ATP finals earlier this year with Jackson Withrow(Texas A&M) and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan(Washington), is now at a career-high of 44 in the ATP doubles rankings. For more on today's final, see the ATP website.

Nathan Pasha(Georgia) won his first doubles title at the ATP Challenger level yesterday at the $75,000+H tournament in Calgary Canada. The second seeds, Pasha and Wofford graduate Robert Galloway, who now has four Challenger titles this year, defeated top seeds JP Smith(Tennessee) and Matt Reid of Australia 6-4, 4-6, 10-6 in the final. No. 2 seed Ivo Karlovic of Croatia won the singles title, beating top seed Jordan Thompson of Australia 7-6(3), 6-3.

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