Giron Claims First ATP Title, Shnaider and Borges Make it Three Collegiate WTA/ATP Champions Sunday; Jamrichova Falls in WTA Debut; Bernard and Monday Earn USTA Pro Circuit Championships; Mateas Celebrates Birthday with Granby W75 Title

College tennis continues to expand its influence, with three of six champions in the ATP and WTA tournaments going to players who chose Division I tennis to help prepare them for a professional career.

The oldest of the three, 30-year-old Marcos Giron, won his first ATP title, saving a match point in his 6-7(4), 6-3, 7-5 win over 19-year-old Alex Michelsen in the all-Southern California final at the ATP 250 in Newport Rhode Island. Giron, who won the 2014 NCAA singles final as a junior at UCLA, had lost his previous two ATP finals, in San Diego in 2022 and earlier this year in Dallas. Giron, who will reach a new career-high of 38 with the title, is representing the United States at the Olympics late this month in Paris. For more on the final, see this article from the ATP website.

2024 NCAA doubles champions Robert Cash and JJ Tracy(Ohio State), who received a wild card into the tournament, were beaten in the Newport doubles final by No. 6 seeds Andre Goransson(Cal) of Sweden and Sem Verbeek(Pacific) of the Netherlands 6-3, 6-4.

Giron is not playing the ATP 250 this week in Atlanta, which like Newport, is no longer on the ATP calendar after this year, but there are plenty of other Americans in the draw, with Ben Shelton(Florida) the top seed, Frances Tiafoe No. 3 and Brandon Nakashima(Virginia) No. 7 the seeded Americans. Reilly Opelka, a semifinalist at Newport, received a special exemption into the main draw, and Mackie McDonald(UCLA) and Aleks Kovacevic(Illinois) are direct entries. Two-time Kalamazoo champion Zachary Svajda advanced through qualifying, beating Maxim Cressy(UCLA) 4-6, 7-6(2) 6-4 in today's final round, and recent Georgia Tech graduate Andres Martin received a wild card. Opelka plays Kovacevic and McDonald faces Nakashima in the first round.

Back to today's pro finals, 2019 NCAA singles finalist Nuno Borges(Mississippi State) won the first ATP title of his career, with the 27-year-old from Portugal defeating Rafael Nadal 6-3, 6-2 in the final of the ATP 250 in Bastad Sweden. Borges, now a career-high 42 in the ATP rankings, is only the second Portuguese man to claim a title on the ATP Tour. For more on his memorable first title, see this article from the ATP website.

And Diana Shnaider of Russia, who 14 months ago was competing in the NCAA team championships for North Carolina State, earned her third WTA title, on a third different surface, today on the clay the 250 in Budapest Hungary. The top seed, Shnaider defeated Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus 6-4, 6-4 in the final, and will move to a career-high WTA ranking of 23. For more on the final, see this article from the WTA website.

Wimbledon girls champion Renata Jamrichova of Slovakia received a wild card into the WTA 250 in Prague, making her WTA main draw debut today. The 17-year-old left-hander dropped a tight match to No. 5 seed Viktoria Tomova of Bulgaria 7-6(3), 6-3. Unlike her performance throughout the Wimbledon junior tournament, Jamrichova's serve was not an overwhelming advantage, as she had eight double faults today.

Two of the three USTA Pro Circuit titles were won by collegians, with Johannus Monday(Tennessee) of Great Britain winning the title at the $25,000 men's tournament in East Lansing Michigan and Ohio State rising junior Alex Bernard taking the title at the $15,000 tournament in Rochester New York. No. 6 seed Monday defeated top seed Aidan McHugh, also of Great Britain, 6-2, 6-2 for his third ITF men's WTT singles title. The unseeded Bernard defeated Tyler Zink(Georgia, Oklahoma State), also unseeded, 6-3, 6-1 for his second career Pro Circuit singles title.

Unseeded Sophie Chang won the USTA Pro Circuit W75 in Evansville Indiana, beating unseeded Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M) 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-3 in today's final. It's the fourth career singles title for the 27-year-old Chang and by far the biggest, with her previous three at the 25 and 15 levels. Stoiana will break into the WTA Top 500 for the first time with her appearance in the final.

Former Duke star Maria Mateas gave herself a welcome 25th birthday present today at the ITF women's World Tennis Tour W75+H tournament in Granby Canada: the biggest title of her career. The top seed, Mateas defeated unseeded 19-year-old Kayla Cross of Canada 6-3, 7-6(3) in just over two hours for her third career ITF WTT women's singles title. Mateas has also assured herself a US Open qualifying spot, with her ranking now up to a career-high of 206 with the cutoff date for entry tomorrow.