Pro Media & News

Pro Circuit Round-Up: Smyczek, Collins claim titles

Sally Milano | November 20, 2017


Tim Smyczek captured his second USTA Pro Circuit title in the last three weeks Saturday, defeating fellow American Bjorn Fratangelo, 6-2, 6-4, in the final of the JSM Challenger of Champaign-Urbana in Champaign, Ill.

Smyczek (pictured above), seeded seventh, upset No. 1 seed Tennys Sandgren, 6-4, 6-4, in the quarterfinals and dropped just one set total – in his 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-3 semifinal win over No. 4 Cameron Norrie – en route to the championship.

With his win, Smyczek not only picked up the eighth USTA Pro Circuit singles title of his career but also claimed a wild card into the 2018 Australian Open by winning the Australian Open Wild Card Challenge, based on his performance at a series of hard-court events over the last three weeks. He moved up 22 spots in the ATP rankings with his victory in Champaign to check in at No. 130 in the world.

In women's action, third-seeded Danielle Collins upset the top two seeded players at last week's Sooner Open in Norman, Okla., knocking out No. 1 seed Sofia Kenin, 6-1, 6-2, in the semifinals and No. 2 Sachia Vickery, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, in the final to earn the second USTA Pro Circuit title of the year and the fourth of her career.

Collins, who graduated from the University of Virginia in 2016 as a two-time NCAA singles champion (2014, 2016), reached a career-high ranking of No. 153 after capturing the singles title at the $25,000 event in Bethany Beach, Del., in June. In addition to winning two titles in 2017, the 23-year-old from St. Petersburg, Fla., has also reached finals at three events this year, finishing runner-up at the $60,000 event in Charleston, S.C., the $25,000 event in Naples, Fla., and the $80,000 tournament in Tyler, Texas. She is now No. 177 in the WTA rankings.

Other highlights from the USTA Pro Circuit for the week of Nov. 6 include:

 

  • Six of the eight singles quarterfinalists in Norman were from the United States. Collins, Vickery, Kenin and Maria Sanchez reached the semifinals, while Claire Liu and Chiara Scholl advanced to the quarterfinals. Scholl also won the doubles title in Norman (with Tamaryn Hendler of Belgium), defeating the No. 1-seeded team of Sanchez and fellow American Caitlin Whoriskey in the final.
  • As was the case in Norman, six of the eight players who reached the singles quarterfinals in Champaign were American. In addition to finalists Smyczek and Fratangelo, Taylor Fritz was a semifinalist, and Sandgren, Mackenzie McDonald and Tommy Paul were quarterfinalists.
  • Ulises Blanch reached the singles final and Jonathan Chang and Williams Grant advanced to the singles quarterfinals at the $15,000 Pensacola, Fla., Futures. Hunter Johnson and Yates Johnson teamed to win the doubles title in Pensacola, defeating Harrison Adams and Junior Ore in the all-American doubles final.
  • Evan Song won the singles title at the $15,000 ITF Pro Circuit event in Campeche, Mexico. Connor Farren and Alexios Halebian also reached the singles quarterfinals at the event.
  • Miles Seemann won the doubles title at the $15,000 ITF Pro Circuit event in Heraklion, Greece.
  • Robert Galloway captured the doubles title at the $15,000 ITF Pro Circuit event in Meshref, Kuwait.

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