We are now less than a month away from the commencement of the 2016 tennis season on the WTA and ATP tours but on the ITF Pro Circuit, the tennis never stops! This week, there were 17 tournaments being played simultaneously across four different continents.
Starting off with the men, all but two of the ten tournaments on the men's calendar were $10,000 events played in Asia and South America. Some winners of those eight $10,000 tournaments included Amir Weintraub and Gonzalo Lama - who both won on home soil, Marko Tepavac and Nikola Moljevic.
Elsewhere, Argentina's Martin Cuevas and Bosnia and Herzegovina's Aldin Setkic were the two men who were victorious in the remaining two events - who were classifed as $15,000 tournaments. Cuevas won the Dominican Republic F2 Futures event in Santo Domingo, defeating fifth seed Juan Ignacio Galarza 7-5, 6-0 in the showpiece. Meanwhile, Setkic was victorious at the Nigeria F3 event in Lagos, cruising past sixth seed Sadio Doumbia 6-2, 6-0 in Saturday's final.
Shifting to the women's side of the spectrum, Mihaela Buzarnescu and Tessah Andrianjafitrimo were victorious in their respective $25,000 finals, while the rest of the tournaments were all classifed as $10,000 events. Buzarnescu, a seasoned veteran on the ITF Professional Circuit, routed Valentyna Ivakhnenko 6-0, 6-3 to win her 15th professional singles title in Cairo, Egypt. Andrianjafitrimo, on the other hand, has just begun playing as a professional, won her maiden ITF singles title in Lagos, battling through the sweltering Nigerian heat to outlast Tadeja Majeric 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.
Other winners this week included Georgia Brescia - who won home soil, Isabella Shinikova, Elena Gabriela Ruse and Anastasiya Vasylyeva.
Next week, there will be six tournaments on the men's calendar and six on the women's, ranging from the Middle Eastern city of Doha to the sunny South American city of Osorno and $10,000 to $50,000 in total prize money offered.