29 tournaments across four continents: that’s how many tournaments were played at once this past week on the ITF Pro Circuit. A staple on the professional tour, the ITF Pro Circuit gives players a chance to accumulate enough ranking points in order to get into the qualifying or main draws of tournaments at the highest professional level. With winners from nearly two dozen different countries, let’s take a look at this week's action, that certainly had its fair share of upsets.
Bester, Giustino, Garin Capture $25K Titles
On the men’s side, the three biggest titles of the week were $25,000 championships won by Canada’s Philip Bester, Italy’s Lorenzo Giustino, and Chile's Christian Garin.
Bester, a 27-year-old German-born Canadian, defeated compatriot Peter Polansky 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in front of their home fans to capture the title in the Saskatchewanian city of Saskatoon. With only the single break separating the two in all three sets, the top-seeded Canadian's consistency, and ability to take his chances when it really mattered, proved decisive in a match that could have swung both ways.
More than 7000 km (4,000 miles) overseas, Italy’s Lorenzo Giustino was victorious against home favourite Romain Jouan, defeating the Frenchman 6-4, 6-2 to capture the title in Bourg-En-Bresse. Breaking thrice and winning more than 2/3 of the points behind his first and second serve, Giustino saved all five break points on his own serve, and never really let Jouan find the form he had enjoyed all week.
Around 600 miles south, Chile’s Christian Garin barely put a foot wrong in a lights-out victory over Argentina’s Juan Pablo Paz—the second seed needing just 58 minutes to dispatch the third seed at the loss of just two games. From 2-2 in the first set, Garin won ten games in a row without facing a single break point of his own.
Other winners this week include Portugal’s Goncalo Oliveira, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Aldin Setkic, Belarus’ Uladzimir Ignatik and Austria's Bastian Trinker, just one-third of the champions of $10,000 events this past weekend.
Parmentier, Kostova Victorious in $100K Finals, Lottner Caps Off Stunning Week with $50K Title
On the women’s side, there were two $100,000 events held in Contrexeville and Budapest, won by Pauline Parmentier and Elitsa Kostova, respectively, as well as a $50,000 event in Versmold, won by German rising star Antonia Lottner.
In a battle of the Frenchwomen for the Contrexeville title, it was Pauline Parmentier who came out on top, dispatching Océane Dodin 6-1, 6-1 in just 51 minutes, to win her 10th ITF Pro Circuit singles title. Without dropping a set all week, Parmentier barely put a foot wrong against her younger compatriot, serving ten aces and astoundingly, winning 100% of her first serve points.
In Budapest a day earlier, Bulgaria’s Elitsa Kostova defeated compatriot Viktoriya Tomova 6-0, 7-6(3) to capture her fifth and the biggest ITF singles title of her career. After winning the first set in just 21 minutes, Kostova was made to work in the second after being just a game away from sealing the victory. Remarkably, from 1-5 down, Tomova fought back, eventually pushing the second set to a tiebreak. But in the end, Kostova proved too strong for her younger compatriot, sealing the straight-sets victory not long thereafter.
Meanwhile, in the final of the $50,000 event in Versmold, Antonia Lottner delighted her home fans with a comeback victory over Tereza Smitkova, defeating the unseeded Czech 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 to capture her biggest singles title to date, and fifth overall. From a set and a break down, Lottner saved three match points, before reeling off three games in a row to take the second set. From there, she took that same momentum into the final set, where an early break seemed to prove decisive.
Other winners this week include South Korea’s Na-Lae Han and Slovenia’s Dalila Jakupovic, winners of $25,000 events in Yuxi and Torino respectively, as well as Slovakia's Viktoria Kuzmova, China’s Wang Yan and Montenegro’s Ana Veselinovic, one-third of the winners of $10,000-level events this past week.
Next Week on the ITF Pro Circuit
After 29 tournaments this week, the ITF Pro Circuit is showing no signs of slowing down. With 25 events scheduled for next week, one-fifth of which classified as a $25,000 or $50,000 event, there is guaranteed to be quite a fair share of upsets.
Players in action next week include the United States’ Nicole Gibbs, Russia’s Elizaveta Kulichkova, the Czech Republic’s Petra Cetkovska and Turkey’s Ipek Soylu.