Pro Circuit Round-up: Deep runs for Pegula, Altamirano

Jessica Pegula and Collin Altamirano are the early leaders in the 2018 US Open Wild Card Challenge after a pair of deep runs at USTA Pro Circuit events.

Both unseeded in last week’s draws, Pegula finished runner-up at the $60,000 event in Honolulu, while Altamirano was a semifinalist at the $75,000 ATP Challenger event in Winnetka, Ill. 

Pegula, 24, fought through three seeded opponents on her way to the final at the Tennis Championships of Honolulu, eliminating No. 3 seed Ashley Kratzer, No. 5 Misaki Doi and No. 8 Emina Bektas. The Buffalo, N.Y., native dropped the opening set to both Kratzer and Doi before dominating sets two and three against both opponents. 

Japan’s Nao Hibino, the top seed at the event, ended Pegula’s run in the final, but not before the American gained 48 points in the US Open Wild Card Challenge standings to take first place after the first of five weeks of play.

Bektas and No. 4 Danielle Lao, both semifinalists at the event, are tied for second place, while Usue Arconada and Asia Muhammad also picked up valuable points by making the quarterfinals.

Though she fell one match short of the singles title, Pegula did claim the doubles trophy in the event with Hibino. The No. 2 seeds defeated the American duo of Ashley Lahey and Taylor Johnson, 7-6, 6-3, in the final.

On the men’s side, Altamirano’s singles semifinal run came after he qualified for the Illinois event, with a 7-5, 7-6 second-round upset of No. 5 Darian King providing the highlight of his week. The former University of Virginia standout won six straight sets in the tournament before falling to Taiwan’s Jason Jung in the semifinals. 

Altamirano earned 23 challenge points for his efforts, putting him just ahead of quarterfinalists Tommy Paul and Mitchell Krueger. In an all-American quarterfinal, Altamirano defeated Krueger, 6-4, 6-4.

In doubles action, Austin Krajicek paired with Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan of India to claim the title in a third-set super tiebreak. The American fell to Altamirano in the opening round of singles play. 

The US Open Wild Card Challenge continues this week with the $60,000 women’s Pro Circuit event in Berkeley, Calif., and two men’s events in Kazakhstan and Canada. The men’s Pro Circuit rolls on with a $25,000 Futures event in Iowa City, Iowa.

Full standings and a more detailed description of the challenge are available here.

Other notable results from Americans on the ITF Circuit include:

Women:

• Kaitlyn Christian was a doubles finalist at the $100,000 ITF Pro Circuit event in Budapest, Hungary.
• Sophie Chang reached the singles quarterfinals, and Sanaz Marand was a doubles finalist at the $25,000 ITF Pro Circuit event in Winnipeg, Canada.
• Dasha Ivanova reached the singles quarterfinals and the doubles final at the $15,000 ITF Pro Circuit event in Amstelveen, Netherlands.

Men:

• Ulises Blanch won the singles title at the €43,000 ATP Challenger event in Perugia, Italy.
• Sekou Bangoura reached the singles quarterfinals and the doubles final at the $15,000 ITF Pro Circuit event in Amstelveen, Netherlands.
• Maksim Tikhomirov was a singles quarterfinalist at the $15,000 ITF Pro Circuit event in Telavi, Georgia.
• John-Paul Fruttero won the doubles title at the $15,000 ITF Pro Circuit event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Wheelchair:

• David Wagner won the Wimbledon quad division doubles title.
• Chris Herman and Casey Ratzlaff reached the singles semifinals as individuals and the doubles final as a pair in the men’s open division at the Midwest Wheelchair Championships ITF 3 Series event in Grand Rapids, Mich.
• Mackenzie Soldan was a singles semifinalist and a doubles champion in the women’s open division at the same event. Emmy Kaiser was a singles finalist, and Lauren Haneke-Hopps and Joanna Nieh reached the singles quarterfinals as individuals and the doubles final as a pair.
• Nick Taylor won the singles and doubles titles in the quad open division, teaming with Taylor Graham in the final. Graham was also a singles quarterfinalist.