Final Round of Qualifying at Midland WTA 125 Features All Eight Seeds; Townsend Wins Title at Tyler $80K; Sandgren Champion in Las Vegas; Knaff and Kikuchi Earn First Titles in Tallahassee and Norman

©Colette Lewis 2022--
Midland Michigan--

Qualifying for the WTA 125 Dow Tennis Classic began today at the Greater Midland Tennis Center, and when the first round ended at 5:15 p.m., all eight seeds had advanced to Monday's final round.

The seed in the most peril during the day was No. 1 Kayla Day, who lost the first set to Emina Bektas(Michigan) 7-6(2) and was down 5-2 in the second set. Bektas didn't get to match point serving for it at 5-3, and Day kept the pressure on, holding and breaking for a 6-5 lead. Bektas had two break points to force a tiebreaker, but Day won the next four points to get the split. The 23-year-old left-hander then broke in the first game of the third set and didn't face a break point in her 6-7(2), 7-5, 6-3 victory.

Day will face No. 7 seed Francesca Di Lorenzo(Ohio State), who beat Whitney Osuigwe 6-2, 6-4.

Canada's Katherine Sebov was the other seed to come from a set down to advance, with the No. 5 seed defeating Hanna Chang 4-6, 6-3, 6-1. Sebov will face No. 4 seed Sophie Chang, who defeated wild card Eleana Yu, the 2022 USTA 18s National champion, 6-2, 6-4. Yu, a high school senior, told me she was going to focus on her college choice in the coming weeks.

No. 2 seed in the qualifying, Diana Shnaider, has yet to play in a North Carolina State uniform, although the 18-year-old from Russia enrolled in school this fall. Shnaider, who is 9-3 in $60K and above tournaments in the United States this fall, defeated Catherine Harrison(UCLA) 6-4, 6-2, keeping the ball deep, playing great defense and making few errors. Shnaider, who warmed up with future teammate Maddy Zampardo, who lives two hours south of Midland, will face No. 8 seed Robin Montgomery for a place in the final. Montgomery breezed past recent Washington State graduate Michaela Bayerlova 6-2, 6-1, with Montgomery's serve just too much for the 23-year-old from the Czech Republic. 

No. 3 seed Elvina Kalieva also advanced in less than an hour, with the 19-year-old defeating Elena-Teodora Cadar of Romania 6-0, 6-4. Although she was broken once, Kalieva was dominant on serve, winning 19 of 21 points when she got her first serve in. Kalieva will play No. 6 seed and 2018 Dow finalist Jamie Loeb(North Carolina), who fought off a determined challenge from Duke sophomore Ellie Coleman for a 7-5, 7-5 victory.

Coleman, who grew up in Midland and had a large Sunday afternoon crowd supporting her on Meredith McGrath Stadium Court, was the first to drop serve at 4-all in the opening set. Loeb couldn't close out the set on her first attempt, but got another break and took that second chance.  Coleman fell behind 3-2 in the second set, but immediately broke back, held and broke again for a 5-3 lead. She had two set points, the first at 40-30, with Loeb getting lucky when her backhand clipped the net and fell over for a winner. Loeb saved the second set point with a forehand winner and went on to break.  Coleman earned a third set point with Loeb serving at 4-5, 30-40, but Loeb saved that with a forehand that forced an error and she began to play more confidently from that point on. She broke Coleman to take a 6-5 lead, saved a break point in the final game with an ace and closed out the match with a backhand winner.

In addition to the four final round qualifying matches Monday, three main draw matches are on the schedule. Top seed Shuai Zhang of China will face Nao Hibino of Japan; Louisa Chirico will play No. 3 seed Lin Zhu of China and Ann Li meets No. 6 seed Varvara Gracheva of Russia. 

There are also four first round double matches on the schedule Monday.

After doubling up to play the quarterfinals and semifinals Saturday night at the $80,000 USTA women's Pro Circuit tournament in Tyler Texas, unseeded Taylor Townsend emerged as the champion in today's singles final. Townsend defeated No. 4 seed Yue Yuan of China(who is also the No. 4 seed here in Midland this week), 6-4, 6-2 to complete the week without dropping a set, and the 26-year-old left-hander will move into the WTA Top 150.

Unseeded Ashley Lahey(Pepperdine) and Maria Kozyreva(St. Mary's) won the doubles title, beating 2022 NCAA doubles champions Nell Miller and Jaeda Daniel(NC State) 7-5, 6-2 in last night's final.

Former Tennessee star Tennys Sandgren won his first Challenger title since 2017 today in Las Vegas, defeating No. 4 seed and defending champion Stefan Kozlov 7-5, 6-3. It's only the second time Sandgren has beaten Kozlov in six meetings. 

No. 3 seeds Henry Patten(UNC-Asheville) and Julian Cash(Mississippi St/Oklahoma St) of Great Britain won their sixth Challenger title of the year and their second straight, beating Constantin Frantzen(Baylor) of Germany and Reese Stalder(TCU) 6-4, 7-6(1) in the final. Patten and Cash, both 26, will move into the ATP Top 100 rankings in doubles tomorrow.

At the $15,000 USTA men's Pro Circuit tournament in Norman Oklahoma, No. 7 seed Yuta Kikuchi of Cal won his first title, beating No. 6 seed Alex Martinez, a senior at Oklahoma, 7-5, 6-4. The 23-year-old fifth-year senior from Japan dropped just one set this week and is 14-7 this year in $15K events.

The hometown favorite fared better at the $15,000 men's Pro Circuit tournament in Tallahassee, with No. 2 seed Alex Knaff, a former Florida State Seminole, beating unseeded Florida junior Will Grant 6-3, 6-0. It's the first ITF men's singles title for the 24-year-old from Luxembourg.