With tournaments on grass, clay and hard courts, July is truly a month for all surfaces. Familiar names are among those highlighted, but new faces, particularly from the collegiate ranks, have also earned the spotlight. With last week’s coverage of the USTA Clay Courts, those champions are not included below, but congratulations again to Leighton Allen, Gabby Price, Luke Casper, Aubrey Nisbet, Nishesh Basavareddy, Lara Smejka, Abhishek Thorat and Bella Payne.
Alex Rybakov
The recent TCU graduate won his first Pro Circuit title at the $25,000 level this month at the Old Capitol Tennis Championships in Iowa City, Iowa. The 22-year-old left-hander, seeded No. 3, lost his only set of the tournament in the final, beating Ohio State rising junior John McNally 7-6(5), 5-7, 6-3 for the fourth pro singles title of his career. The 2019 NCAA singles semifinalist is now back near his career high ATP ranking of 454. (Photo credit: Bill Kallenberg/CapturedInAction)
Yuki Naito
The 18-year-old from Japan swept the titles this month at the ITF World Tennis Tour $25,000 tournament in Torino, Italy. Naito defeated fellow teenage qualifier Elisabetta Cocciaretto of Italy 6-3, 6-4 in the final for the third, and biggest, WTT title of her career, all this year. A former Top 10 player on ITF Junior Circuit, Naito partnered with Chihiro Muramatsu, also of Japan, for her fourth career doubles title, with the unseeded pair beating Maiar Sherif of Egypt and Melanie Stokke of Norway 6-0, 6-2 in the final. Naito has broken into the WTA Top 400 for the first time in her career. (Photo credit: Paul Ballard)
This Article Is Available Only to Recruiting Advantage members
Please log in to access premium TennisRecruiting.net content.
