Pro Circuit Round-up: Townsend extends hot streak

Taylor Townsend's recent clay-court form has already secured her a wild card for the French Open, via the USTA Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge, and the 22-year-old showed no signs of stopping, as she won her second USTA Pro Circuit title in three weeks. 

At the $80,000 event in Charleston, S.C., the No. 2 seed powered her way to yet another trophy, dropping just one set in five matches, as she improved to 16-2 in the past four weeks on the USTA Pro Circuit.

In that time, Townsend (pictured above, left) has collected trophies in Charleston and Dothan, Ala., both $80,000 events, while also making semifinal runs in the $60,000 event in Indian Harbour Beach, Fla., and the $80,000 event in Charlottesville, Va. 

The Atlanta resident's path to the Charleston title went through three tough Americans, starting in the quarterfinals against Whitney Osuigwe, the current junior world No. 1. In one of the matches of the tournament, Townsend's experience eventually prevailed in a 6-0, 1-6, 7-5 victory. 

That set up a semifinal encounter with Katerina Stewart, a recent Pro Circuit champion herself in Tampa, Fla. Stewart dismissed two seeded Americans – No. 4 Nicole Gibbs and No. 7 Jamie Loeb – on her way to the semis, but Townsend proved too tall a task, as she advanced with a 6-4, 6-1 result. 

A marquee final pitted the tournament's top two seeds against each other, with Townsend taking on No. 1 Madison Brengle (pictured above, right). Both women entered the final at the cost of just one set, but Brengle would soon drop two more in a 6-0, 6-4 defeat.

Americans Allie Kiick and Irina Falconi rounded out the American singles effort in Charleston with quarterfinal appearances, while Kiick and Louisa Chirico were doubles finalists at the event.

The men's Pro Circuit took to Savannah, Ga., where Team USA claimed three of the four semifinal spots. Christian Harrison got past Reilly Opelka in a battle of unseeded semifinalists, while No. 5 Michael Mmoh fell to eventual champion Hugo Dellien of Bolivia, the No. 7 seed. Harrison battled admirably in the final, pushing Dellien to the limit before falling, 1-6, 6-1, 6-4.  

Other notable results for Americans on the ITF and Challenger circuits include:

Men

• Mackenzie McDonald won the singles title at the ATP $100,000 Challenger in Seoul, South Korea.
• Kevin King was a singles semifinalist at the ATP $75,000 Challenger in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
• Ronnie Schneider was a doubles finalist at the $25,000 ITF Futures in Abuja, Nigeria.
• Peter Kobelt was a singles champion at the $15,000 ITF Futures in Akko, Israel, while Michael Zhu was a doubles finalist.
• Alexios Halebian was a singles semifinalist at the $15,000 ITF Futures in Thua Thien Hue, Vietnam.

Women:

• Elli Halbauer was a singles semifinalist at the $15,000 ITF Pro Circuit event in Antalya, Turkey.
• Madeleine Kobelt was a doubles champion at the $15,000 ITF Pro Circuit event in Akko, Israel.
• Shelby Talcott was a doubles finalist at the $15,000 ITF Pro Circuit event in Cairo, Egypt.