Pro Circuit Round-up: Muhammad among 6 U.S. winners

In a banner week for the Stars and Stripes on the USTA Pro Circuit, Asia Muhammad scored the biggest result in more ways than one.

One of six Americans to lift a trophy, Muhammad’s victory at the $60,000 event in Lexington, Ky., earned her not only a second USTA Pro Circuit title on the year but also a valuable lead in the US Open Wild Card Challenge.

Maria Mateas also won a singles title, at the $25,000 event in Fort Worth, Texas, while Hayley Carter and Ena Shibahara teamed up to win the doubles trophy in Lexington. Robert Galloway was a doubles champion, at the men’s $75,000 event in Lexington, while Martin Joyce was one half of the winning doubles team at the $25,000 Futures event in Decatur, Ill.

In the Kentucky women’s event, Muhammad (pictured above) knocked off two seeds in the opening three rounds of the tournament, both in three sets, to help set up an all-American final four. The California native defeated wild card Quinn Gleason in one semifinal, while Ann Li came back from a set down to knock off Jessica Pegula in the other. To book her semifinal spot, Li turned back American Anastasia Nefedova in the last eight.

In the championship match, Muhammad clinched the trophy with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Li.  

Her sixth career ITF singles title earned her 80 WTA ranking points, enough to move ahead of Gail Brodsky in the race for a US Open wild card, with just this week’s $60,000 USTA Pro Circuit event in Landisville, Pa., left to play. Muhammad has competed in the US Open singles main draw once before in her career, in 2008, in addition to four doubles main-draw appearances. In 2016, she reached the quarterfinals of the doubles event with Taylor Townsend.  

In the Lexington doubles competition, the American team of Carter and Shibahara defeated the No. 4-seeded duo of Sanaz Marand, also of the U.S., and Victoria Rodriguez, of Mexico. The champions survived a third-set super tiebreak in each of the opening two rounds but dropped just six games combined in their semifinal and final matches.   

In Texas, Mateas became the fourth American trophy winner of the week after she topped Robin Anderson, 6-3, 7-5, in an all-American final at the $25,000 event. Both finalists lost just one set in four matches to reach the title round.

Kelly Chen, Alex Graham and Rhiann Newborn all reached the quarterfinals in the event.

In men’s play in Lexington, Collin Altamirano and Ronnie Schneider were the last Americans standing in the singles draws, both reaching the quarterfinals. In doubles action, Galloway teamed with Venezuelan Roberto Maytin to win the trophy. The No. 3 seeds battled through three consecutive third-set super tiebreaks to reach the final, where they outclassed Joris De Loore and Marc Polmans, 6-3, 6-1.

There was more U.S. success at the $25,000 Futures event in Illinois. Sebastian Korda reached the singles final, while Jacob Dunbar was a semifinalist. Alexios Halebian, Grey Hamilton and Aron Hiltzik all reached the quarters.

In the doubles competition, Joyce teamed with Maxime Cressy of France to defeat Nicolas Meister and Keegan Smith, 4, 6, 6-2, [10-2], in the final.   

Other notable results from Americans on the USTA and ITF Pro Circuits include:

Women:

• Chiara Scholl was a doubles finalist at the $25,000 event in Bad Saulgau, Germany.

Men:

• Jordi Arconada was a singles semifinalist and a doubles champion at the $25,000 Futures event in Portoviejo, Ecuador.
• Conor Berg reached the singles quarterfinals at the $25,000 Futures event in Dublin, Ireland.
• Christian Langmo reached the singles semifinals at the $15,000 Futures event in Jakarta, Indonesia.
• Justin Butsch reached the singles quarterfinals at the $15,000 Futures event in Tanger, Morocco.

Wheelchair:

• Bryan Barten and Greg Hasterok reached the singles quarterfinals in the quad open division at the Austrian Open ITF 2 Series in Vienna.