Pro Circuit Round-up: Brengle, Rybakov take titles

Both USTA Pro Circuit events last week produced American singles champions, with Madison Brengle and Alex Rybakov taking the trophies. Brengle (pictured above) won the ITF World Tennis Tour W60 event in Berkeley, Calif., while TCU alum Rybakov won the WTT M25 event in Iowa City, Iowa. Brengle also won the doubles title in Berkeley, in tandem with Sachia Vickery.

Fresh off her first-round Wimbledon upset of No. 16 seed Marketa Vondrousova, the top-seeded Brengle was dominant on her way to the California title. She dropped just one set in five matches, to American qualifier Alycia Parks in Round 2, and also knocked off Gail Brodsky (quarterfinals), No. 6 seed Kristie Ahn (semis) and Mayo Hibi (final) on the week.

Four years removed from her WTA career-high ranking of No. 35, Brengle is now back into the Top 80 at No. 78, her highest mark in over 16 months. A Grand Slam regular, having been in the main draw of each of the last 20 majors, Brengle was recently named in the initial field for the 2019 US Open. She has 14 career major singles victories, with her best major run coming at the 2015 Australian Open, where she reached the fourth round.

Rybakov defeated John McNally, a rising Ohio State junior, 7-6, 5-7, 7-6, in an epic Iowa final that doubled as a showcase for college tennis. Seeded third at the event, the former TCU Horned Frog marched into the final without dropping a set. McNally, meanwhile, won three straight three-setters to reach the championship match.

The trophy is Rybakov’s fourth ITF Futures title and first of 2019. It is also his first hard-court title, with the previous three all coming on American clay. In May, Rybakov reached the NCAA individual singles semifinals before dropping a three-setter to eventual champion Paul Jubb. Had he won the event, he would have earned a US Open main-draw wild card as an American NCAA singles champion.

The US Open Wild Card Challenge provides another avenue for a wild card, though the Iowa M25 tourney is not a countable event. After two weeks of the five-week challenge window, Usue Arconada maintains her lead atop the women’s standings, thanks to her Honolulu title in Week 1. On the men’s side, 19-year-old Sebastian Korda took the lead after his final run at the ATP Challenger 110 event in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan.

To view complete men's and women's standings, a list of eligible tournaments and more, visit the challenge homepage.

Other notable American results on the ITF Circuit last week include:

Men:

• Alex Lawson won the doubles title, and Dennis Novikov was a doubles finalist at the ATP Challenger Tour 80 event in Gatineau, Canada.
• Errol Smith, Preston Touliatos and Evan Zhu reached the singles quarterfinals at the ITF World Tennis Tour M25 event in Iowa City.
• Junior Ore reached the doubles final at the ITF World Tennis Tour M25 event in Gandia, Spain.
• Kalman Boyd was a singles finalist, and Felix Corwin and Christian Langmo were singles quarterfinalists at the ITF World Tennis Tour M15 event in Cancun, Mexico., where Aron Pierce and Noah Schachter teamed to reach the doubles final.

Women:

• Caroline Dolehide reached the singles quarterfinals in Berkeley, and Francesca Di Lorenzo was a doubles finalist at the tournament.
• Quinn Gleason and Sophie Chang were singles quarterfinalists at the ITF World Tennis Tour W25 event in Gatineau, Canada.
• Rasheeda McAdoo finished runner-up in doubles at the ITF World Tennis Tour W25 event in Imola, Italy.
• Adriana Reami swept the singles and doubles titles at the ITF World Tennis Tour W15 event in Cancun, Mexico, teaming with Anna Rodgers to claim the doubles championship. Rodgers also reached the singles quarterfinals at the tournament.
• Akilah James reached the singles quarterfinals at the ITF World Tennis Tour W15 event in Lima, Peru.

Wheelchair:

• Dana Mathewson reached the singles semifinals and was the doubles champion in the Women's Open division at the Swiss Open ITF 1 Series event in Geneva, Switzerland, where Bryan Barten won the doubles title in the Quad Open category.
• Chris Herman swept the singles and doubles titles in the Men's Open division at the Vancouver International ITF Futures in Vancouver, Canada. In the Women's Open category, Emmy Kaiser was the singles champion and teamed with Joanna Nieh to reach the doubles final, while Shelby Baron was a singles finalist and doubles champion at the tournament.