Brooksby Claims First Pro Title in Bakersfield; Mandlik's Winning Streak Ends in Arcadia Final; Andreescu Captures BNP Paribas Open; Baylor Wins Oracle Challenge; Miami Open Qualifying Begins Monday

Jenson Brooksby collected his first pro title today at the ITF World Tennis Tour's $25,000 tournament in Bakersfield California. The 18-year-old wild card dominated No. 2 seed and ATP No. 362 Aleks Vukic of Australia, beating the former Illinois All-American 6-3, 6-1 in 49 minutes. The Baylor recruit made 81 percent of his first serves and faced only one break point in the match, while going 4 for 5 in his break opportunities. Brooksby, who is the reigning Kalamazoo 18s champion, had lost his ATP points at the end of the year in the new ITF structure, but after his win today, which earned 3 ATP points, he will be in the 600s.

The doubles final, played late last night, went to former UCLA Bruins Evan Zhu and Martin Redlicki. The unseeded pair, who captured the NCAA title last May, beat unseeded Ian Dempster(NC State) and Jacob Dunbar(Richmond) 6-1, 3-6, 10-7.

Elli Mandlik's WTT winning streak ended at nine today, when the unseeded 17-year-old lost to top seed Hanna Chang 7-5, 6-1 in the $15,000 tournament final in Arcadia California. No. 3 seeds Brynn Boren(Tennessee/USC) and Sarah Lee(Michigan) defeated No. 2 seeds Pamela Montez(UCLA) and Madison Westby(USC) 6-2, 6-4 in the doubles final.

Qualifier Grey Hamilton, a recent Ole Miss graduate, saw his run end in the final of the men's $15,000 WTT tournament in Arcadia. The 22-year-old from North Carolina lost to No. 8 seed Antoine Bellier of Switzerland 6-3, 6-3, ending his win streak this week at six matches. No. 4 seeds Matic Spec(Minnesota) of Slovenia and Michail Pervolarakis(Portland) of Greece won the doubles, beating the unseeded Swedish team of Simon Freund and Karl Friberg 6-4, 6-3 in the final.

Eighteen-year-old wild card Bianca Andreescu of Canada won her first WTA title today, beating three-time slam champion Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in the final of the BNP Paribas Open. Andreescu has been outstanding throughout 2019, reaching the final in Auckland, and suffering only three losses all year. She is the youngest BNP Paribas Open champion since Serena Williams won the title in 1999, at age 17 and will move into the Top 25, after ending 2018 at 152.  From those of us who have followed her career since she was 14, the most impressive part of these first three months has been her health. Often injured while competing in the juniors, Andreescu has proven, during all the qualifying and all the tough three-setters, that she can stand up to the rigors of the WTA tour week after week.  For a recap of the final, see this article from the WTA website.

Baylor won the Oracle Collegiate Challenge today in Indian Wells, beating USC 4-2.  For more on the Bears win, see this article from their website. Bobby Knight has more on today's other big matches, including No. 2 Wake Forest's 6-1 win over No. 3 Virginia, at College Tennis Today.

Qualifying for both men and women at the Miami Open begins on Monday at the new venue, Hard Rock Stadium.  Nine US women are in qualifying, including Caroline Dolehide, who received a previously unannounced wild card.  Eight US men are in qualifying, including wild cards Reilly Opelka and Zane Khan. 

The Miami Open men's draw isn't revealed until tomorrow, but the women's draw has been published, with a couple of interesting first round matches between wild cards.  Caty McNally and Coco Gauff, who won the US Open girls doubles title in September, will play in the first round. Gauff has won their previous two meetings, both last year, both in finals: at the French Open and at the Grade 1 in Roehampton.  Whitney Osuigwe will face Mari Osaka in the other all-wild card first round contest. Osaka, the older sister of WTA No. 1 Naomi Osaka, is ranked 336. Osuigwe's ranking is 213.