Former Collegians Sweep Titles at WTA Tournament in Kentucky; Kudla Defeats Kwiatkowski at Lotto Elite Challenge; Nishikori Tests Positive for Covid-19 Virus

Former UCLA star Jennifer Brady won her first WTA title in her first final today at the Top Seed Open in Lexington Kentucky, beating Jil Teichmann of Switzerland 6-3, 6-4 in the final of first event in US since the Covid-19 shutdown.

The unseeded Brady, who did not drop a set in her five victories, got a late break in the first set after saving four break points to take 4-3 lead, and she served out the set, although it took her five set points to secure it.

Brady's forehand has always been her best shot, and she needed to be aggressive with it, and solid on her backhand, to take that opening set, because she got only 33 percent of her first serves in. Teichmann, who was 2 for 2 in her previous WTA final appearances, wasn't able to capitalize on Brady's poor serving, and she missed crucial second serve returns on key points during that set.

Brady jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second set, with impressive depth and few unforced errors, but Teichmann hung tough from then on. Teichmann, a 23-year-old left-hander, was unable to get a look at a break point however, with Brady's serve improving in the second set. Any nerves that the 25-year-old Brady might have felt serving out the match were well hidden, and she converted her first career championship point at 40-15 with a signature forehand winner.

Brady, who played for the Bruins from 2013-2015, will move to a career-high of 40 in the WTA rankings, and is expected to be seeded at the US Open this year, with so many international players ranked above her deciding not to play in the US this summer. For more on Brady's title, see this Associated Press article.

No. 4 seeds Hayley Carter and Brazil's Luisa Stefani won the doubles title, beating Teichmann and Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 7-5 for their second WTA title.

Carter, a former North Carolina star, and Stefani, a former standout at Pepperdine, led 6-1, 5-1 before Teichmann and Bouzkova won four straight games and took a 40-15 lead serving at 5-all in the second set. But Carter and Stefani, who won their first title last fall at the WTA International tournament in Tashkent, won that game on a deciding point to allow Carter a second chance to serve out the match. Despite letting three match points get away in the final game, Carter and Stefani won another deciding point to earn the victory.

At the other WTA International event this week, in Prague, top seed Simona Halep won the title, beating No. 3 seed Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-2, 7-5. Halep, who has expressed reservations about traveling to New York for the Western & Southern and the US Open, said she will announce her decision on Monday.

Denis Kudla and Thai Kwiatkowski met today in the final of the Lotto Elite Pro Tennis Challenge, an exhibition event at a private club in Berks Country Pennsylvania, with Kudla taking a 6-4, 7-5 victory. Kudla and Kwiatkowski, who are in the main draw of the US Open by direct entry and wild card, respectively, played plenty of entertaining points during the final, and Kudla really stepped on the gas late, having trailed 5-1 in the second set before taking the final six games of the match. Kudla earned $4000, and 2017 NCAA champion Kwiatkowski(Virginia) won $1000 as a finalist. 

Links to video streams of Sunday's semifinals and finals can be found here.

Kei Nishikori of Japan, who has not played since the 2019 US Open due to injury, announced today that he has tested positive for the Covid-19 virus and due to the necessity of undergoing quarantine in Bradenton Florida will not be flying to New York this week to prepare for the Western & Southern Open. Nishikori, who reached the 2014 US Open men's final, said he will update his status on Friday August 21, which would likely include information on whether he will be able to consider competing at the US Open. For more, see this tennis.com article.