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Sunday, July 30, 2017

European Junior Champions Crowned; Anisimova Claims First Pro Title at Stockton $60K; Li Wins Evansville $15K; Norrie's Comeback Secures Challenger Title; Another Atlanta Title for Isner


The European Championships concluded today in Switzerland, where the ITF Grade B1 is held, Russia, site of the 16s championships and the Czech Republic, where the 14s tournament was located.

At the 18s championships, one of the two reigning Australian Open junior champions in the finals was able to add the European title, with Hungary's Zsombor Piros, the No. 2 seed, beating top seed Corentin Moutet of France 6-4, 7-5. Girls Australian Open champion Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine could not match Piros' feat, with the top seed dropping a 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 decision to Orange Bowl champion Kaja Juvan of Slovenia.   Kostyuk did take the doubles title, with compatriot Viktoriia Dema. The No. 3 seeds defeated No. 4 seeds Jule Niemeier and Lara Schmidt of Germany 6-0, 7-5 in the final.

The boys doubles title went to the Swiss team of Jakub Paul and Damien Wenger.  The No. 9 seeds defeated No. 7 seeds Egor Noskin and Alexey Zakharov of Russia 6-3, 6-3 in the final. For more on the 18s finals, see the Tennis Europe website.

At the 16s championships, top seed Timofey Skatov of Russia won the boys title, defeating No. 3 seed Nini Gabriel Dica of Romania 6-3, 6-1 in the final.  Maja Chwalinska of Poland won the girls 16s title, with the No. 5 seed beating unseeded Caijsa Hennemann of Sweden 7-6(1), 6-0 in the final. For more on the 16s championships, see the Tennis Europe website.

The 14s champions are Ukraine's Dasha Lopatatskaya and Holger Rune of Denmark.  The unseeded Lopatatskaya, who won the Junior Orange Bowl 12s in 2015, beat top seed Oksana Selekhmeteva of Russia 6-3, 6-2 in the final.  Rune, the top seed in the boys draw, defeated No. 2 seed Hamad Medjedovic of Serbia 6-2, 6-1 to claim the boys 14s singles title.  For more on the 14s championships, see the Tennis Europe website.

For all her success, including two finals this spring at $60K and 80K events, 15-year-old Amanda Anisimova had not won a Pro Circuit event until today.  Anisimova didn't have to take the court for the $60,000 Sacramento final with unseeded Ajla Tomljanovic of Croatia, with Tomljanovic withdrawing well before the final, scheduled for this evening.  In last night's semifinal, the unseeded Anisimova avenged her loss to Kristie Ahn in the final of the $60,000 tournament in Dothan Alabama last April, beating the former Stanford star and No. 2 seed 6-4, 5-7, 6-1 in a two hour and 37 minute marathon.  Tomljanovic defeated No. 8 seed and defending champion Sonya Kenin 6-4, 6-0, but as of now, Kenin still leads the USTA US Open wild card challenge, with one week to go and many additional WTA points on offer this coming week at Stanford and Washington DC, as well as at the $60,000 tournament in Lexington Kentucky.

Wimbledon girls finalist Ann Li, 17, won her first Pro Circuit title today at the $15,000 tournament in Evansville Indiana.  Li, a wild card who does not have a WTA ranking, defeated No. 2 seed Marcela Zacarias of Mexico 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in just under two hours.  The final game was extended to 16 points, with Li saving three break points until she converted on her third match point.

Great Britain's Cameron Norrie, who left TCU in May after his junior year, captured his first ATP Challenger title today in at the $75,000 tournament in Binghamton New York.  The 21-year-old left-hander trailed 4-1 in the final set before coming back to defeat top seed Jordan Thompson of Australia 6-4, 0-6, 6-4.  Norrie will now move into the ATP Top 200 and should be able to compete in the US Open qualifying next month.

Unseeded Denis Kudla and Daniel Nguyen won the doubles title in Binghamton, defeating No. 4 seeds Jarryd Chaplin and Luke Saville of Australia 6-3, 7-6(5) in the final.

John Isner captured his fourth BB&T Atlanta Open this afternoon, with the No. 2 seed beating No. 4 seed Ryan Harrison 7-6(6), 7-6(7). Isner, who won the Dell Technologies Hall of Fame Classic in Newport last week, moves to No. 18 in the ATP rankings and retakes his usual position as the top-ranked American male.  For more on the former Georgia Bulldog's title, see this ATP article. The Bryan twins won the doubles title in Atlanta, beating Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands and Artem Sitak of New Zealand 6-3, 6-4 in tonight's final.

Former USC star Yannick Hanfmann's great run came to end today in the final of the Gstaad Switzerland ATP tournament, when the 25-year-old German qualifier was beaten by fourth-seeded Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-4, 7-5. Look for Hanfmann in the US Open qualifying too; he will be around 125 in the ATP rankings after his six wins in Gstaad.

1 comments:

Cees Varossieau said...

More: Arantxa Rus and Quirine Lemoine of the Netherlands conquered last week in Bastad their first WTA doubles title.