Pro Circuit Round-up: Ritschard wins on 25th birthday

On his 25th birthday, Swiss-born American Alexander Ritschard won his first ITF title in his adopted country. Originally from Zurich, Switzerland, Ritschard felt right at home at the ITF World Tennis Tour M25 event in Calabasas, Calif., the only USTA Pro Circuit event on last week’s calendar.

The former University of Virginia Cavalier defeated the No. 2-seeded Stefan Kozlov, 6-2, 0-6, 7-6, in an all-American final for his fourth career ITF singles title. His previous tournament victories all came in May 2018, in consecutive weeks at a trio of $15,000 Futures events in Sweden.

The Calabasas title was Ritschard's first hard-court triumph, and he certainly did it the hard way, knocking off three of the tournament’s Top 5 seeds on the week. His title run began with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 opening-round result against No. 5 Joao Menezes, of Brazil, and ended with victories over the Top 2 seeds at the event. In the semifinals, his 6-4, 6-4 win over top-seeded Liam Broady, of Great Britain, made it three straight matches without dropping a set.

The champion carried that momentum into the final, where the 6-2 opener was his eighth consecutive winning set before Kozlov stormed back. In the end, the former UVA standout edged the No. 2 seed by the slimmest of margins, coming back from a 5-2 deficit in the third set and saving three match points before sealing the title, 7-5, in the decisive tiebreak. 

Drew Baird, an 18-year-old UCLA commit, made it three American semifinalists, falling to Kozlov, 6-2, 6-2, after an impressive run that included a pair of three-set victories and a perfect 4-0 record in tiebreaks.

In the Calabasas doubles event, American Sekou Bangoura teamed with Boris Arias, of Bolivia, to win the title without dropping a set. The No. 3-seeded champions took out Kozlov and Broady in the semis before claiming the title against the British duo of Jack Findel-Hawkins and Ryan Peniston. 

Other notable results from Americans on the ITF Circuit include:

Men:

• Jordi Arconada was a singles quarterfinalist at the ITF World Tennis Tour M15 event in Cancun, Mexico. Harrison Adams and Junior Ore teamed up to win the doubles title at the same event.
• Michael Zhu was a doubles finalist at the ITF World Tennis Tour M15 event in Quinta Do Lago, Portugal.

Women:

• Louisa Chirico was a singles semifinalist at the ITF World Tennis Tour W25 event in Curitiba, Brazil.
• Emina Bektas was a doubles finalist at the ITF World Tennis Tour W25 event in Kofu, Japan.
• Dasha Ivanova and Pamela Montez reached the singles quarterfinals at the ITF World Tennis Tour W15 event in Cancun, Mexico, where Rasheeda McAdoo was a doubles finalist.

Wheelchair:

• Dana Mathewson was a singles semifinalist and doubles finalist in the women’s open division at the Cajun Classic ITF Super Series event in Baton Rouge, La.
• David Wagner was a singles semifinalist in the quad open division at the Cajun Classic and also teamed with Nick Taylor to win the doubles title.

(Photo courtesy of the University of Virginia)