Pro Circuit Round-up: Brengle wins 2nd title of 2018

Madison Brengle claimed her second USTA Pro Circuit title of the year on Sunday at the $60,000 event in Landisville, Pa. The No. 3 seed, who previously won the $100,000 event in Midland, Mich., won the Pennsylvania trophy for the second time in her career. 

The world No. 105 has been ranked in the WTA’s Top 100 as recently as May and obtained a career-high ranking of No. 35 in 2015. Brengle’s performance in Landisville earned her a 12th career ITF singles title, and she has won at least one ITF title in seven of the last eight years. 

The native of Dover, Del., avoided any seeded opponents in her five matches but was pushed to three sets in her opening-round contest against Arina Rodionova of Australia. She defeated Ann Li in the quarterfinals and got past another countrywoman, Kristie Ahn, in the final. 

While Brengle stole the post-tournament headlines, the major storyline during the event was the US Open Wild Card Challenge. As the concluding event of the five-week competition, the Landisville tournament took on added significance with a spot in the US Open main draw on the line.

On three occasions, three different women had opportunities to clinch that wild card with a victory. First, Gail Brodsky faced Jessica Pegula in the quarterfinals, but the mother of two could not secure her first US Open appearance in nine years. On Saturday, it was Pegula who had a chance to clinch in the semis, but the 24-year-old squandered two match points in the second-set tiebreak before falling in three sets to Ahn.

In the final, it was Brengle’s turn to play spoiler, as she stopped Ahn one match short of both the title and a US Open main-draw spot. With Brengle leading, 6-4, 1-0, in Sunday’s final, Ahn retired due to heat illness after making deep runs in both the singles and doubles events. The singles runner-up was also a doubles semifinalist with her Ukrainian partner, Anhelina Kalinina. 

With those results, the idle Asia Muhammad held on to her slim lead atop the Wild Card Challenge standings and will compete in the US Open main draw. 

In men’s Pro Circuit play, former Georgia Tech star Chris Eubanks led the way at the $100,000 event in Aptos, Calif., with a semifinal run in one of his best results of 2018. The 22-year-old defeated fellow American Ernesto Escobedo, 6-4, 7-6, in the quarterfinals, while Michael Redlicki also reached the last eight.

Eighteen-year-old Sebastian Korda was a finalist at the $25,000 Futures event in Edwardsville, Ill., where he fell to Axel Geller, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6, in the championship round. Korda, a former world No. 1 junior, went three sets in each of his first three matches, including a second-round upset of No. 5-seeded Ronnie Schneider.

Paul Oosterbaan, Alfredo Perez and Ryan Shane were singles finalists at the event, while Nicolas Meister and Evan Zhu reached the doubles final as a pair.

Other notable results from Americans on the ITF Circuit include:

Women:

• Pamela Montez reached the singles final at the $15,000 ITF Pro Circuit event in Santa Tecla, El Salvador. Monica Robinson was singles semifinalist and doubles runner-up at the same event, while Stephanie Nemtsova was a doubles champion.
• Akilah James was a singles semifinalist at the $15,000 ITF Pro Circuit event in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
• Chiara Lommer was singles quarterfinalist at the $15,000 ITF Pro Circuit event in Sezze, Italy.

Men:

• Tyler Mercier reached the singles quarterfinals at the $15,000 ITF Futures event in Koszalin, Poland.
• Samuel Shropshire was a singles quarterfinalist at the $15,000 ITF Futures event in Pozoblanco, Spain.

Wheelchair:

• Casey Ratzlaff defeated David Wagner in the Men’s Open division at the Pacific Northwest Sectional Wheelchair Tennis Championship, an ITF Futures event in Salem, Ore. The two also teamed up to win the doubles title. Chris Herman reached the singles quarterfinals at the event.
• Shelby Baron was a singles and doubles champion in the Women’s Open division at the same event, winning the doubles crown with Lauren Haneke-Hopps.