Pro Circuit Round-up: Stewart wins Macon W80

The biggest ITF title of Katerina Stewart’s young career comes with an added bonus. By virtue of winning the W80 event in Macon, Ga., on Sunday, the 22-year-old also took the Week 1 lead in the USTA’s women’s Australian Open Wild Card Challenge. 

The Miami native earned 115 ranking points by beating former French Open quarterfinalist Shelby Rogers (who now sits second in the challenge standings), 6-7, 6-3, 6-2, in the Macon final. She also defeated US Open women's doubles semifinalist and No. 7 seed Caroline Dolehide, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, in the Round of 16.

Though she now leads the chase for an Australian Open wild card, Stewart (pictured above, right) has no plans to play any further events in the challenge, which counts ranking points from a player’s best three results during its four-week run.

Still, the former USTA Girls' 16s national champion has found her form quickly in what's amounted to a second return to pro tennis. Stewart ended her endeavor into the United States Army at West Point when an NCAA rules miscommunication prevented her from playing college tennis for Army. She then suffered a herniated disk following a car accident that kept her out from last September until this May.

With a career-high ranking of No. 158 in July 2015, Stewart made her WTA debut at the 2014 US Open, where she received a women's doubles wild card alongside Louisa Chirico. She recently penned a "Behind the Racquet" entry addressing her struggles with her sexuality as she grew up on the junior tennis circuit.

While the men’s Australian Open Wild Card Challenge begins this week, there were still two Pro Circuit events on last week’s calendar. The best American singles result came from University of Illinois senior Aleks Kovacevic, who reached the singles final at the M25 event in Fayetteville, Ark. The New York City native defeated Michael Redlicki, 5-7, 6-2, 6-2, in the semis. Jacob Dunbar reached the singles quarters, while Evan Song (with Roberto Cid Subervi of the Dominican Republic) won the doubles title, defeating Americans Justin Butsch and Korey Lovett, 7-6, 6-3, in the final. 

Hunter and Johnson Yates took home the M25 doubles title in Fort Worth, Texas, defeating Alfredo Perez and Charlie Emhardt, 6-2, 6-4, in an all-American final. Perez also reached the singles semifinals at the event, while Nathan Ponwith was a quarterfinalist.

Other notable American results on the ITF Circuit include:

Women:

• Robin Anderson reached the singles final at the W60 event in Saguenay, Canada, where Jessica Livianu was a singles quarterfinalist.
• Jamie Loeb won the USTA Pro Circuit W25 event in Dallas, where she also reached the doubles final. Kayla Day and Tori Kinard were both singles quarterfinalists.
• Charlotte Chavatipon was a semifinalist, and Elvina Kalieva reached the quarters at the USTA Pro Circuit W25 event in Austin, Texas.
• Allie Kiick won the W25 title in Cucuta, Colombia.
• Sebastiani Leon was a singles finalist at the W15 event in Metepec, Mexico, where Akilah James reached the quarterfinals. Leon also teamed with Sarah Lee to win the doubles title at the event.

Men:

• Maxime Cressy and Jamie Cerretani teamed to win the doubles title at the ATP Challenger 80 event in Hamburg, Germany.
• Mwendwa Mbithi was a singles finalist at the M15 event in Cancun, Mexico.
  
• Matthew Mendez was a singles quarterfinalist at the M15 event in Benicarlo, Spain.

Pictured above: Champion Katerina Stewart (right) and finalist Shelby Rogers (left) pose with tournament director and Mercer head men's and women's tennis coach Eric Hayes (center).