At home in Rome, Kessler wins again to close in on world's top 150
When in Rome, win titles.
That appears to be the mantra for McCartney Kessler, at least.
The 24-year-old American doubled her career title tally on the ITF World Tennis Tour this weekend after winning her second title in five months on home soil in Rome, Georgia.
Her 6-4 6-1 victory over compatriot Liv Hovde, 18, at W75 Rome on Sunday propelled her to a career-high No. 152 this week – a remarkable rise for a player who began the 2023 season at No. 945 in the WTA rankings.
Kessler first competed on the ITF World Tennis Tour in 2016 but followed in the footsteps of both her parents, Carl and Julie, and brother McClain in playing college tennis in Florida, spending five seasons in action for the Florida Gators.
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Her results at ITF level have put her in a position to compete at the upper levels of the game in recent months, and she has seized the opportunity.
Kessler qualified for the main draw at a WTA 250 event for the first time at Auckland at the turn of the year, before reaching the second round on her Grand Slam debut, as wild card, at the Australian Open.
In Melbourne, she pushed eventual quarter-finalist Linda Noskova – the conqueror of world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, mighty close – ultimately falling 6-4 in the deciding set.
Signs suggest there's plenty more to come from Kessler as she seeks to graduate to the WTA Tour full-time.
Elsewhere, Priscilla Hon and Lily Miyazaki also won W75 titles - each achieving the joint biggest-singles triumphs of their careers to date.
Hon won her third career title at the 60K prize money level (adding the W75 Burnie crown to her wins at W60 Bendigo in 2018 and W60 Canberra in 2023) after beating up-and-coming 17-year-old Sara Saito 6-3 6-0 in the final.
Miyazaki, meanwhile, beat four French players - including top seed Oceane Dodin in the semi-finals - to win W75 Andrezieux-Boutheon, overcoming Jessika Ponchet 3-6 6-4 6-1 in the title match.
Miyazaki, 28, now has six ITF singles titles to her name, with this triumph coming 16 months after her last success at W60 Glasgow in 2022.
Click here for all the weekend's winners from the ITF World Tennis Tour