Girls champion Aleksandra Karabanova of Russia, the No. 10 seed, saved a match point in her 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-0 win over Elizaveta Anikina of Estonia in a final that lasted almost three hours, while No. 16 seed Lyoma Hotelier of Japan breezed past qualifier Richard Mitchell of Switzerland 6-0, 6-1 in 45 minutes.
| Aleksandra Karabanova photo @Richard van Loon, TopTennis.photos |
The drama in the Karabanova – Anikina match continued throughout, with Anikina looking for every opportunity to close the net, while Karabanova was able to counter that with good passing and ensuring the winners got back into the game.
While neither has a serve that yields free points, Anikina only landed 36 percent of her first serves, limiting her ability to be aggressive early in the point. Karabanova made only 50 percent of her first serves and had 14 double faults, but she kept her composure despite the frustration she must have felt.
One of those double faults came at deuce, with Karabanova serving at 5-6 in the second set, but Anikina sent a forehand long early in the rally and Karabanova held on for the tiebreak.
During that tiebreaker there were two major line calling controversies, both against Anikina, which made me think it was strange that the tournament, usually so innovative, had no electronic line calling. But then I remembered that the event is an important training ground for aspiring French chair umpires, so maybe that played a role.
Anyway, the chair overruled the line judge at the other end to give Karabanova the point for 2-2, after which an Anikina ball that looked to be on the line was whistled wide at 5-all, with Anikina shaking her backhand on the next point to drop the set.
The third set was not as one-sided as it seemed, but Anikina made many more unnecessary mistakes, possibly due to fatigue. Karabanova went up 5–0, mainly by playing much more conservatively than in the first two sets, and prolonging the rallies until Anikina missed, and that strategy worked, with Anikina playing three good points in a row at any point in the final set.
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| Lyoma Hotelier photo @Richard van Loon, TopTennis.photos |
The boys’ final couldn’t have been more different, with Mitchell clearly out of gas after winning seven matches leading up to the final. Hotelier, who won the Tennis Europe Category 1 title in Bolton, England, last week, has won 11 matches in the tough indoor fortnight, losing just two sets in that period.
The four tournaments on the USTA Pro Circuit concluded today in Florida and California, with three U.S. singles champions crowned.
At the ATP Challenger 100No. 4 seed Zachary Svajda, playing in his hometown of San Diego, defeated top seed Sebastian Korda 6-4, 7-6(5). The two-time Kalamazoo 18s champion, now 23 years old, played the cleaner game against the current ATP No. 53, hitting 22 winners and making just 14 unforced errors, while Korda had 26 winners and 40 unforced errors.
Svajda only had two aces in the match, but couldn’t have picked a better time for his second. After taking a 6-3 lead in the second set tiebreak, Korda hit two winners on his two service points, but Svajda wrapped up his seventh Challenger title with an ace. He will move up to 109 in the ATP rankings, just below his career-high of 102.
No. 3 seeds Mac Kiger (North Carolina) and Trey Hildebrand (UCF, Texas A&M) won the doubles title in San Diego, defeating the unseeded team of Garrett Johns (Duke) and Karl Poling (Princeton, UNC) 6-3, 6-4 in the final. It is the seventh Challenger title for Kiger and his third with Hilderbrand, who has eight Challenger doubles titles to his name.
At the W100 in San DiegoNo. 5 seed Elvina Kalieva won her first title since 2023, beating No. 2 seed Elli Mandlik 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 in today’s final. Kalieva had ended Jennifer Brady’s (UCLA) comeback with a 5-7, 7-6(2), 6-2 victory in the semifinals, while Mandlik had beaten No. 6 seed Mary Stoiana 6-4, 6-3 in the semifinals.
The 22-year-old Kalieva will rise to a career-high ranking of 154 with the title.
LSU sophomore Kayla Cross of Canada and Alana Smith (NC State) won the doubles title, with the No. 2 seeds defeating unseeded Catherine Harrison (UCLA) and Dalayna Hewitt 6-2, 6-3 in the final.
Canada’s Bianca Andreescu continued her comeback in Florida, winning her second title in the past three weeks at the W75 in Vero Beach. Andreescu, the No. 6 seed, defeated unseeded Xiaodi You of China 7-5, 6-1 in today’s final, played in temperatures in the mid-40s. Andreescu is 13-1 to start the year, with her only loss coming in the semifinals of the W35 in Bradenton against Akasha Urhobo.
No. 3 seeds Allura and Maribella Zamarripa (Texas) won the doubles title when they suffered a walkover in the finals from No. 2 seeds Anna Rogers (NC State) and Jazmin Ortenzi of Argentina.
The title to the M15 in Naples, Florida went to No. 8 seed Will Grant (Florida), who defeated former Gator teammate Durate Vale of Portugal in a qualifying match 6-2, 6-3 in the final. It is the first Pro Circuit singles title for 24-year-old Grant. Vale, 27, was in the ATP Top 500 but had not played in more than a year so started this week unranked.
Tristan McCormick (Notre Dame, Georgia) and 43-year-old Jesse Witten (Kentucky) won the doubles titles, with the unseeded pair defeating former Illinois teammates Hunter Heck and Zeke Clark, who were also unseeded, 6-4, 1-6, 10-5 in the final.
With the ITA Team Indoor Championships coming up in the next two weeks, teams are preparing by playing as many matches against top teams as possible. With so many new faces and only a few results at the start of the new season, it’s hard to label any outcome as a disappointment, but both teams ranked No. 1 in the coaches’ poll due to their NCAA titles last year, the Georgia women and the Wake Forest men, lost today.
Georgia traveled to No. 3 North Carolina for their annual blockbuster, and the Tar Heels took care of a young Georgia team and the clinch came at 4-1. The matches were completed and the final score was 5-2. NCAA champion Reese Brantmeier, coming off Friday’s Tar Heels 4-3 victory over NC State at Line 1 singles, earned the fourth point with her 7-6 (5), 6-4 victory over Georgia’s Anastasiia Lopata.
Wake Forest played at No. 6 Ohio State, and the Buckeyes shut out the Demon Deaconstook the doubles point with wins over Bryce Nakashima at 4, Preston Stearns at 2 and Nikita Filin at 6. Ohio State had defeated No. 5 Texas 4-1 on Friday, so they look to be a serious threat at the National Indoors in two weeks
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