USTA National Clay Court Champions Crowned; Eala and Bueno Win Trofeo Bonfiglio ITF JA Singles Championships; Three Tar Heels Claim Titles; Anderson Captures Hall of Fame Open

The USTA National Clay Court Championships encountered more rain than anyone would have wanted, but the gold balls were awarded today in the 14s, 16s and 18s divisions, after the 12s concluded Saturday. 

Just a reminder that the 18s champions receive a wild card into the US Open Junior Championships, and the finalists receive USO Junior qualifying wild cards. I'm not sure if Honer is age eligible, as she is 18 now, and would not be eligible if she turns 19 this year, but the other three are all 17 or under, so they should be able to make the trip to New York for this year's Junior Championships. 

Below are the results, with a link to the USTA Playtennis draws in the headers. 

B12s Orlando FL

Singles: Jack Secord[1] d. Teodor Davidov[13] 6-4, 6-1

Doubles: Ryan Cozad and Yannik Alvarez[2] d. Colin McPeek and Navneet Raghuram[1] 6-4, 6-2

G12s Ft. Lauderdale

Singles: Ciara Harding[3](WC) d. Kristina Penickova[17] 6-4, 7-5

Doubles: Bela Martinez and Anita Tu[3] d. Abigail Gordon and Ciara Harding[2] 6-3, 6-3

B14s Miami Beach FL

Singles: Darwin Blanch[9](WC) d. Braeden Gelletich[1] 6-3, 6-3

Doubles: Maximus Dussault and Maxwell Exsted[14] d. Ian Mayew and Oliver Narbut[4] 6-3, 7-6(5)

G14s Plantation FL

Singles: Tianmei Wang[4] d. Claire Hill[6] 7-5, 6-3

Doubles: Claire An and Katie Rolls[1] d. Hadley Appling and Alanis Hamilton[17] 6-1, 7-5

B16s Delray Beach FL

Singles: Felipe Pinzon[17] d. Ari Cotoulas[12] 5-7, 6-2, 6-3

Doubles: Caden Hasler and Dylan Tsoi[10] d. Stefan Regalia and Cooper Woestendick[1] 4-6, 6-3, 10-2

G16s Huntsville AL

Singles: Kaitlin Quevedo[33] d. Tola Glowacka[10] 2-6, 6-2, 6-4

Doubles: Stephanie Yakoff and Natalia Perez d. Maren Urata and Sophia Webster 6-2, 6-4

B18s Delray Beach FL

Singles: Ryan Colby[17] d. Nicholas Heng[9] 7-6(4), 6-3

Doubles: Lucas Brown and Sebastian Sec[7] d. Alex Michelsen and Conrad Brown[17] 6-3, 7-5

G18s Mount Pleasant SC

Singles: Amelia Honer[9] d. Ariana Pursoo[8] 6-4, 6-0

Doubles: Vivian Miller and Maddy Zampardo[6] d. Seren Agar and Ariana Pursoo[11] 7-6(2), 6-2

The singles titles at the Trofeo Bonfiglio in Milan Italy went to top seed Alexandra Eala of the Philippines and No. 16 seed Gonzalo Bueno of Peru. The 16-year-old Eala, who had a couple of tough three-set wins during the week, defeated 15-year-old Nikola Bartunkova of the Czech Republic, the No. 16 seed, 6-3, 6-3 in the final. Eala is now two for three in Grade A finals, having won the South Africa JA and lost in the Osaka JA final, both in 2019.

The 17-year-old Bueno was playing in only his third JA, having lost in the first round of both the French Open and Wimbledon this year, so his first round win this week was his first at that level. Despite little experience at the top levels, Bueno had an edge on his opponent in the final, 15-year-old Jakub Mensik of the Czech Republic, who was playing in his first Grade A. Bueno prevailed in the final, 6-3, 7-6(4).  Tommy Hemp has more coverage of the finals at Tennis Underworld.

It was a great day for young North Carolina Tar Heels, with three titles on three different continents.

Alexa Graham, who graduated in May, had to qualify for the $15,000 ITF Women's World Tennis Tour tournament in Portugal this week, but she won all seven of her matches in straight sets, including the last two over former collegians. In the semifinals, Graham defeated former South Carolina star Ingrid Gamarra Martins of Brazil 6-2, 6-4 and in today's final, beat Duke rising senior Georgia Drummy of Ireland 6-1, 6-2. Their match this year in the NCAA team quarterfinals went unfinished in their only meeting. Graham, who has been as high as 474 in the WTA rankings, is getting a good start on improving on her current ranking of 1416.

UNC rising junior Rinky Hijikata of Australia, who won his first ITF $15,000 tournament nearly two years ago, picked up his second today, and he too defeated a college rival in the final in Tunisia. The unseeded Hijikata avenged his third round loss to Texas A&M's Valentin Vacherot at the NCAA individual tournament in May, beating the 22-year-old from France, who was also unseeded this week, 6-3, 6-1.

At the ATP 250 Hall of Fame Open in Newport, Will Blumberg, who graduated from UNC in May, collected a first ATP title, partnering with Jack Sock to win the doubles championship. Blumberg, whose only previous appearance in a Tour-level doubles match was at the US Open in 2017, and Sock, who hadn't won a doubles title on the ATP tour since the ATP Finals in 2018, needed a wild card to get in the draw. But they defeated the No. 3 and No. 2 seeds to reach the final, and today got past unseeded Austin Krajicek and Canadian Vasek Pospisil 6-2, 7-6(3). For more on their title, see this article from the ATP website.

Kevin Anderson, the former Illinois All-American from South Africa, defeated Jenson Brooksby 7-6(8), 6-4 to win his first ATP tour title in over two years. Anderson, the No. 8 seed, was also a wild card. For more on Anderson's win and the great run by Brooksby, see this article from the ATP.

At the ATP 500 in Hamburg Germany, Michael Venus(LSU) of New Zealand and Tim Puetz(Auburn) of Germany took the doubles title, with the No. 2 seeds defeating top seeds Kevin Krawietz of Germany and Horia Tecau of Romania 6-3, 6-7(3), 10-8 for their first title as a team. Venus now has 15 ATP tour doubles titles and Puetz has five. 

The Evansville Indiana $25,000 USTA Women's Pro Circuit tournament finished today, with No. 4 seed Rebecca Marino of Canada defeating top seed Mayo Hibi of Japan 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 in the final.