USTA Pro Circuit Titles for Diallo, Ngounoue and Smith; Tien Receives Lexington Challenger Wild Card; Kessler Qualifies for WTA 500 in Washington DC: Five More Americans Join Fritz in Second Round at Paris Olympics

Robin Anderson and Clervie Ngounoue

For the second weeks in a row, two of the three titles on the USTA Pro Circuit went to Americans, with 18-year-old qualifier Clervie Ngounoue winning the W50 in Dallas and wild card Colton Smith, a rising senior at Arizona, claiming his first pro title at the men's $25K in Champaign.

At the ATP Challenger 75 in Chicago, former University of Kentucky All-American Gabriel Diallo won his third Challenger title, with the 22-year-old Canadian beating the rain to post a 6-3, 7-6(3) win over No. 6 seed Yunchaokete Bu of China in the championship match. The fourth-seeded Diallo, who turned pro in 2022 after his junior year at Kentucky, didn't lose a set all week, and his 17 aces in the final show why he is dangerous at both the Challenger and ATP level. It's Diallo's third Challenger title, with one in each of the past three years now; his current ATP ranking is 148.

Ngounoue won her seventh match in seven days today in the Dallas final, beating unseeded Robin Anderson(UCLA) 2-6 6-3, 7-5. Serving at 4-5 in the third set, Ngounoue held at love, broke in the next game, and closed out the match holding at love to earn her second Pro Circuit singles title, with both coming this year. Ngounoue is fortunate that she is not on Monday's schedule at the Washington DC WTA 500, where she has received a main draw wild card and will face Peyton Stearns(Texas) in the first round. She is still entered in the USTA 18s National Championships in San Diego, where she is the defending champion. 

The 21-year-old Smith, who reached the Dallas $25K final two weeks ago, defeated No. 4 seed Andre Ilagan(Hawaii) 6-4, 6-3 for his first Pro Circuit title. The unseeded Smith, a semifinalist in May's NCAA singles championships, is now 13-2 in the three USTA Pro Circuit tournaments he has competed in in the past five weeks. He defeated three of the top four seeds this week in claiming the title. Smith had been entered in qualifying at this coming week's $25K in Edwardsville Illinois, but is now showing as a late withdrawal. With a 64-player qualifying draw, play began today and the final round will be Tuesday. I don't know if Smith is eligible for a special exempt spot in the main draw this week or if he might receive a wild card, as the main draw is not yet posted. 

The draws for the ATP Challenger 75 in Lexington are out, with qualifying beginning today. Diallo is the No. 3 seed at the tournament at his collegiate hometown, with Bu the top seed (update: Bu has withdrawn) and Emilio Nava the No. 2 seed.

Learner Tien received a main draw wild card, indicating that he won't be playing Kalamazoo, but he has not yet officially withdrawn from the USTA Nationals, where he is the two-time defending champion. 

The other two main draw wild cards in Lexington were awarded to Bruno Kuzuhara and recent Kentucky graduate Taha Baadi of Canada.

The qualifying at the Mubadala Citi Open in Washington DC concluded today, with Americans earning three of the four spots available in the women's main draw: Amanda Anisimova, local favorite Hailey Baptiste and McCartney Kessler(Florida). Kessler won her first round match this year at the Australian Open, but has yet to post a win in a WTA tournament. The 25-year-old from Georgia will face Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic; Anisimova will play Sloane Stephens and Baptiste's first round opponent is Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.

Mitchell Krueger and Maxime Cressy(UCLA) are the two Americans who qualified; the men's draw is 48 players, so there were six qualifiers. Krueger plays Luca Nardi of Italy and Cressy faces Daniel Galan of Colombia. 

The second day of Olympic tennis was much more productive than the first, with all first round singles matches completed today. Five Americans won their opening matches, joining Taylor Fritz, who won his first round match Saturday. Today's results and tomorrow's schedule, courtesy of the USTA:

RESULTS - (SUNDAY, JULY 28, 2024)

 

(2) Coco Gauff (USA) def. Aja Tomljanovic (AUS) 63 60

(5) Jessica Pegula (USA) def. Vikorja Golubic (SUI) 63 64

(13) Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN) def. Marcos Giron (USA) 61 64

(9) Danielle Collins (USA) def. Laura Siegmund (GER) 63 20 (ret.)

(9) Tommy Paul (USA) def. Luciano Darderi (ITA) 63 64

(11) Emma Navarro (USA) def. Julia Grabher (AUT) 62 60

Benjamin Hassan (LBN) def. Chris Eubanks (USA) 64 62

 

TOMORROW’S ORDER OF PLAY (MONDAY, JULY 29, 2024)

 

(2) Coco Gauff (USA) vs Maria Lourdes Carle (ARG) - Court Suzanne-Lenglen – NB 13:30

(5) Jessica Pegula (USA) vs Elina Svitolina (UKR) – Court Philippe-Chatrier – 4th match

(9) Danielle Collins (USA) vs Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) – Court 14 – 3rd match

(11) Emma Navarro (USA) vs Viktoriya Tomova (BUL) – Court 5 – 2nd match

(3) Taylor Fritz/Tommy Paul (USA) vs Felix Auger-Aliassime/Milos Raonic (CAN) – Court 13 – 5th match

(4) Austin Krajicek/Rajeev Ram (USA) vs Alex De Minaur/Alexei Popyrin (AUS) - Court Simonne-Mathieu – 4th match