Navarro Claims First WTA Title; Ngounoue Reaches Naples W35 Final; Four Americans Advance to Round of 16 at Traralgon ITF J300; Karki and Chung Win J100 Titles in Costa Rica

2021 NCAA champion Emma Navarro won her first WTA title Saturday at the WTA 250 in Hobart, with the former University of Virginia star, who at this time a year ago was competing in an ITF $25K event in Naples Florida, defeating top seed Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-1, 4-6, 7-5 in the final. The 22-year-old Navarro, who left Virginia in 2022 after her sophomore year, is now up to 26 in the live rankings after starting 2023 ranked 149. Navarro, seeded No. 27, will face 2018 US Open girls champion Xiyu Wang of China in the first round of the Australian Open Tuesday.

Sunday's first round Australian Open matches featuring Americans:

Taylor Fritz[12] v Facundo Diaz Acosta(ARG)
JJ Wolf v Sebastian Baez[26](ARG)
Frances Tiafoe[17] v Borna Coric(CRO)
Alycia Parks v Daria Snigur[Q](UKR)
Caroline Dolehide v Leola Jeanjean[Q](FRA)
Emina Bektas v Kamilla Rakhimova(RUS)
Amanda Anisimova v Liudmila Samsonova[13](RUS)

Clervie Ngounoue has reached the third Pro Circuit final of her career, with the unseeded 17-year-old defeating top seed Louisa Chirico 6-2, 7-5 at the W35 in Naples Florida, the same tournament Navarro won a year ago. Ngounoue has three Pro Circuit doubles titles, but she has yet to win her first singles title, losing in the finals of a $15K and a $25K in 2022. Her opponent Sunday is No. 8 seed Allie Kiick, who today ended the run of qualifier Angella Okutoyi of Kenya, a sophomore at Auburn, 6-0, 6-4. Kiick, who has a career-high WTA ranking of 126, has not won a title since 2019.

In the doubles final between unseeded teams today, Leonie Kung of Switzerland and Marie Benoit of Belgium defeated Mayuka Aikawa of Japan and Connie Hsu(Penn) of Taiwan 6-7(6), 6-2, 10-8.

2023 Wimbledon girls champion Ngounoue isn't the only recent Wimbledon girls winner to reach a final this week, with 2022 champion Liv Hovde taking the doubles title at the W35 in Loughborough Great Britain. Hovde and fellow 18-year-old Ella McDonald of Great Britain defeated No. 2 seeds Alicia Barnett(Northwestern) and Sara Beth Grey of Great Britain 4-6, 6-2, 10-7 in today's final. It's Hovde's third Pro Circuit doubles title.

After two rounds of play at the ITF J300 in Traralgon, just four Americans remain in singles: Alex Razeghi[6], Aspen Schuman, Iva Jovic[4] and Tyra Grant[5]. Schuman will face top seed and Orange Bowl champion Hannah Klugman in Sunday's round of 16. Doubles have not yet begun in Traralgon, but two rounds are scheduled for Sunday.

Two Americans claimed the titles today at the ITF J100 in Costa Rica, with No. 2 seed Kayla Chung and No. 7 seed Ronit Karki crowned champions.

The 16-year-old Chung defeated No. 7 seed Julieta Pareja 6-1, 6-2 in an all-US final, earning her second ITF Junior Circuit singles title. 

The 16-year-old Karki, a finalist at the 2023 Orange Bowl 16s, swept the titles, claiming his third ITF Junior Circuit singles title with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 win over unseeded Karel Froemel of the Czech Republic. On Friday, Karki and Nathan Blokhin, the No. 4 seeds, defeated the unseeded team of Lucca Acioly of Brazil and Cesar Mahecha of Colombia 7-6(3), 3-6, 11-9, for the first ITF Junior Circuit doubles title for both.

Pareja and her partner Mariia Drobysheva of Ukraine won the girls doubles title, with the top seeds defeating No. 3 seeds Addison Yang Comiskey and Raphaelle Leroux of Canada 6-2, 6-2 in the final. It's the first title on the ITF Junior Circuit for the 14-year-old Pareja.

Christasha McNeil won the doubles title at the ITF J200 in India, partnering with Tzeng Mu-Jie of Taiwan. The unseeded pair defeated top seeds Anya Murthy and Maya Iyengar of the United States 6-2, 7-5 in the final. McNeil also reached the singles semifinals in New Delhi.