With 19 tournaments being played simultaneously this week, there was guaranteed to be some incredible tennis on the ITF Pro Circuit, with hundreds of players looking to make their long-awaited breakthrough and a couple of former big names looking to make their way back up the rankings.

Zhang Continues Winning Ways; Pliskova, Haas, Sorribes Tormo Capture Titles

In the 19 tournaments being played this week, the biggest - a $50,000 event held in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland - was won by Kristyna Pliskova, who edged out home favourite Amra Sadikovic 7-6(4), 6-4 in a big-serving battle. Pliskova, who hit a WTA record 31 aces against Monica Puig at the Australian Open last month, showed off yet another serving masterclass on Sunday afternoon, blasting 19 aces past the Swiss number six en route to capturing her ninth ITF singles title.

Speaking of the Australian Open, newly-crowned Grand Slam quarterfinalist Zhang Shuai continued her winning ways in 2016, outlasting American Vania King 1-6, 7-5, 6-4 in two hours and 36 minutes to capture the $25,000 title in Santa Fe, California. Having been the only player ranked inside the top 70 in the 32-player draw, Zhang was the heavy favourite to take home the title, and survived an early onslaught from King, who is coincidentally trying to return from a long injury lay-off, in one of the longest finals of the season thus far. This is Zhang's 19th career ITF singles title, and just her second in the last two and a half years.

Elsewhere, fifth seed Barbara Haas took home the $25,000 title in Port Pirie, Australia, outclassing home favourite Arina Rodionova 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in grueling and humid 90° temperatures. Meanwhile, halfway across the world in the tropical Brazilian city of Sao Paulo, fifth seed Sara Sorribes Tormo got the better of top seed Andreea Mitu 7-5, 6-1 to capture the $25,000 championship - her biggest title to date.

Other singles winners this week include Russia's Irina Khromacheva, Slovakia's Tereza Mihalikova and Chantal Skamlova, Spain's Olga Saez Larra and Romania's Elena Gabriela Ruse.

O'Connell, Huta Galung Reign Supreme

While the women had five tournaments that were classified $25,000 or higher in terms of financial commitment this week, there was only one on the men's calendar: the $25,000 tournament in Port Pirie, coincidentally a combined event with the ladies. After a week of blood, sweat and tears, it was Christopher O'Connell who won the battle of the Aussies in the showpiece, outlasting third seed Blake Mott 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-2 to capture his second professional singles title.

With O'Connell winning the sole $25,000 event this week, the rest of the events were classifed as $10,000 events, which were won by a diverse group of tennis professionals. Of those events, Enrique Lopez-Perez, Marko Tepavac and Jose Huta Galung were just some of the names who took home hard-fought titles, battling through the harsh conditions that each venue had to offer.

A Look at Next Week's Tournaments

Next week, the ITF Pro Circuit shows no sign of stopping, with twelve events on offer for the men and eight for the women, ranging from the hot and humid Northwest Victorian city of Mildura, Australia to the firgid temperatures of Gatineau, Canada in terms of geographical location at $10,000 to $25,000 in terms of financial commitment.

Come back next week to find out what happened at these tournaments and more in VAVEL USA's weekly ITF roundup!

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About the author
Max Gao
Max Gao is a sports writer specializing in tennis and the Toronto Blue Jays, who has also written on the Rogers Cup website as a guest contributor in the past.