Ngounoue Falls in JA Milan Semis, Sieg Wins Doubles Title; Brooksby Reaches ATP Hall of Fame Open Final; Montgomery and Collins Claim Doubles Championship at Evansville $25K

Clervie Ngounoue's run at the ITF JA Trofeo Bonfiglio in Milan ended in today's semifinals, with the unseeded 14-year-old falling 6-3, 6-3 to No. 16 seed Nikola Bartunkova of the Czech Republic. Bartunkova, who is 15 years old, will face top seed Alexandra Eala of the Philippines in Sunday's final, after Eala defeated 14-year-old Mirra Andreeva of Russia 7-5, 6-2.  

Eala already had earned one title in Milan this week in doubles, playing with American Madison Sieg. Sieg and Eala, the No. 1 seeds, beat the unseeded team of Lucija Ciric Bagaric of Croatia and Sofia Costoulas of Belgium 6-4, 4-6, 13-11 in the final.

In the boys semifinals, No. 16 seed Gonzalo Bueno of Peru advanced, beating unseeded Miguel Perez Pena of Spain 2-6, 6-1 6-0. Bueno will face unseeded 15-year-old Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic, who downed unseeded Ignacio Buse of Peru 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Edas Butvilas of Lithuania claimed his second JA title in as many weeks, with the Wimbledon boys doubles champion, partnering this week with compatriot Vilius Gaubas of Lithuania, beating the Russian team of Igor Kudriashov and Konstantin Zhzhenov 5-7, 7-4, 10-8 in the final.

Tommy Hemp of Italy was at the tournament today, and filed this report at Tennis Underground.

Jenson Brooksby had never played on grass before this week, and was making his ATP main draw debut (although he has played in three slams) at the ATP Hall of Fame 250 in Newport Rhode Island. That hasn't given a moment's pause to the 20-year-old, who was on the Baylor team in 2020 but didn't play due to injury, as he has advanced to the final by beating No. 7 seed Jordan Thompson of Australia 6-3, 7-6(3) this afternoon. Brooksby, who got his first ATP Top 100 win as a qualifier in the first round of the US Open in 2019, earned his best win by ranking today against ATP No. 71 Thompson, coming from 5-2 down in the second set to secure the victory in straight sets. 

Brooksby will face No. 8 seed Kevin Anderson(Illinois) of South Africa in Sunday's final, with Anderson surviving a two hour and 46 minute battle with top seed Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan 4-6, 7-6(3), 7-5.

Will Blumberg, the recent UNC graduate who is playing in his first ATP event as a professional, has advanced to the doubles final. He and Jack Sock, a wild card team, defeated No. 2 seeds Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico and Jonathan Erlich of Israel 7-6(0), 6-3 in today's semifinals. Sock and Blumberg will face unseeded Austin Krajicek(Texas A&M) and Vasek Pospisil of Canada in Sunday's final.

The singles final at the $25,000 USTA Women's Pro Circuit event in Evansville Indiana will not feature an American, but the doubles title belongs to US teens.

Top seed Mayo Hibi of Japan will face No. 4 seed Rebecca Marino of Canada in the singles final, after unseeded Katrina Scott gave Hibi a walkover in the semifinals. Marino defeated Ellie Douglas(TCU) 6-4, 6-1 in the semifinal that was played today.

Sixteen-year-old Robin Montgomery and University of Texas rising sophomore Kylie Collins won the doubles title today, with the unseeded teens taking out former collegians Lauren Proctor(Winthrop) and Anna Ulyashchenko(Wake Forest), also unseeded, 5-7, 6-3, 10-2 in today's final.

Montgomery and Collins have both entered the USTA Girls 18s Nationals in San Diego; it will be interesting to see if they play doubles together there, with a US Open main draw wild card on the line.

At the $60,000 ITF Women's World Tennis Tour event in Spain, wild card Ane Mintegi Del Olmo of Spain, who won the girls Wimbledon title on Sunday, will play for another big singles title  tomorrow. The 17-year-old beat 2019 NCAA singles champion Estela Perez-Somarriba(Miami) of Spain, a qualifier, 6-0, 4-6, 6-4 in today's semifinals. Mintegi Del Olmo will play 2016 Roland Garros girls champion Rebeka Masarova, who is unseeded, in Sunday's final.

The USTA Clay Court Championships will conclude on Sunday, with the finals in the 14s, 16s, and 18s divisions. The 12s, which  have smaller draws, finished today, with top seed Jack Secord winning the boys 12s singles title and No. 3 seed Ciara Harding taking the girls 12s singles title.

I will post the results from the singles and doubles finals for all divisions Sunday.