Vandromme and Schoenhaus Claim ITF WTT Junior Finals Titles; Kypson Wins Third Challenger of Year at Sioux Falls 100; First Pro Tournament, First Title for Kennedy-Drenser; Li Wins Second WTA Title

Seventeen-year-old Jeline Vandromme of Belgium and 18-year-old Max Schoenhaus of Germany won the ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals Sunday in Chengdu China in contrasting fashion.

No. 4 seed Vandromme, the US Open girls champion last month in New York, got her third win this year over top seed Kristina Penickova in another three-set battle. After beating Penickova 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in group play earlier in the week, Vandromme again came back from a set down, earning a 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-5 victory in two hours and 30 minutes.

Schoenhaus, also the No. 4 seed, needed only 48 minutes to defeat No. 6 seed Yannick Alexandrescou of Romania 6-2, 6-0 in the boys final. Schoenhaus, the Roland Garros finalist, should move to No. 2 in the ITF junior rankings with his title.

Jack Kennedy finished fifth with a 6-1, 6-3 win over fellow American Benjamin Willwerth; Kennedy now has a 4-0 record in ITF Junior Circuit matches with Willwerth.

Top seed Aleksander Vasilev of Bulgaria did not win a match in the round robin or placement matches, going 0-5 for the week.

Sunday's finals:

Jeline Vandromme[4](BEL) d Kristina Penickova[1](USA) 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-5

Max Schoenhaus[4](GER) v Yannick Alexandrescou[6](ROU) 6-2, 6-0

Boys third place: Andres Santamart Roig[[2](ESP) d. Ryo Tabata[ALT](JPN) 7-6(5), 7-6(4)

Girls third place: Mia Pohankova[3](SVK) d. Hannah Klugman[2](GBR) 6-2, 6-3

Boys fifth place: Jack Kennedy[5](USA) d. Benjamin Willwerth[7](USA) 6-1, 6-3

Girls fifth place: Alena Kovackova[ALT](CZE) d. Julia Stusek[5](GER) 6-1, 7-6(7)

Boys seventh place: Oskari Paldanius[8](FIN) d. Aleksandar Vasilev[1](BUL) 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-5

Girls seventh place: Ruien Zhang[8](CHN) d. Charo Esquiva Banuls[7](ESP) 6-1, 7-6(1)

As of 9 pm Sunday, the ITF had not updated the final standing and travel grant numbers, but those should be available Monday morning here.

Patrick Kypson(Texas A&M) won his sixth career ATP Challenger title and his third this year at the Sioux Falls South Dakota 100, denying former Tennessee All-American Johannus Monday of Great Britain his first Challenger title with a 6-7(2), 7-6(4), 7-5 win in today's final. Kypson broke at 5-all in the third set and held at love to earn his third title of 2025 and his sixth win in seven ATP Challenger finals. I believe this gives Kypson the lead in the USTA Australian Open Wild Card Challenge, with Eliot Spizzirri, who led after the first week of results, losing in the final of the ATP Challenger 100 in France. 

For more on the final, courtesy of Greg Sharko, see this release.

(I believe the AO wild card race reference will be corrected to reflect Kypson's move to No. 1).

The other American to win on the USTA Pro Circuit this week was 16-year-old Kennedy Drenser-Hagmann, who could have been content with qualifying at her first pro event, but went on to win five matches in the main draw. Today the blue chip from Michigan defeated fellow 16-year-old Annika Penickova 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 to win the title at the W15 in Hilton Head South Carolina. Drenser-Hagmann won a match tiebreaker in the final round of qualifying to reach the main draw, but that was the only set she lost until the final. Drenser-Hagmann will immediately gain a WTA ranking with the 15 points she earned from her title today.

Two other Americans lost in finals today, with unseeded Mary Stoiana(Texas A&M) losing to No. 3 seed Petra Marcinko of Croatia 6-3, 6-0 at the W100 in Tyler Texas. Michigan State sophomore Matt Forbes, the 2024 Kalamazoo 18s champion, lost his first Pro Circuit final at the M25 in Norman Oklahoma. Forbes, a qualifier, was beaten by No. 5 seed Raphael Perot(Texas A&M) of France, who won his third USTA Pro Circuit title in the past month with a 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 victory in today's final.

At the women's tournament in Norman, Francesca Pace won her second W35 title of the month, with the unseeded 20-year-old Italian defeating unseeded Auburn senior Ekaterina Khayrutdinova of Russia 6-3, 7-6(5) in today's final. 

Ann Li captured her second WTA title today at the 250 in Guangzhao China, defeating former Texas Longhorn Lulu Sun of New Zealand 7-6(6), 6-2 in the final. The 25-year-old Li, whose other WTA title, also a 250, came four years ago, is now up to a career-high ranking of 33. For more on Li's title, see this article from the WTA website.