Kim reaches new heights in Lexington

Qualifier Dabin Kim collected her biggest title win to date at W60 Lexington in Week 31, ending a near-year-long wait for victory on the ITF World Tennis Tour.

The 22-year-old Korean’s run to the hard-court title saw her advance past top seed Jessika Ponchet and No.4 seed and compatriot Na-Lae Han, who both retired while trailing by a set and a break, either side of a pair of three-set victories to reach her second final of 2019.

No.2 seed Ann Li was no match with the title on the line, Kim downing the American 6-1 6-3 to seal victory and a rise to a new career-high WTA ranking of No.318.

At M25 Roehampton, Great Britain’s Jack Draper maintained his 100% winning record in finals, though he had to do it the hard way against Israeli qualifier Daniel Cukierman, who took the opener before Draper stormed back to win 4-6 6-3 6-2.

Staying in Great Britain, newly-married Lesley Kerkhove claimed a sixth career singles title at W25 Woking without loss of a set. It was the Dutch Fed Cup player’s first tournament since qualifying for Wimbledon.

“It’s great to win this title,” Kerkhove said. “For the past two years I’ve reached the quarter-final here, and love coming back to such a special place, and really enjoy playing in front of such a good crowd.”

A number of players making use of ITF Reserved places also enjoyed good runs in week 31, with five reaching the quarter-finals or better before losing to the eventual champions. Sohyun Park and Ying Zhang came close to contesting the W25 Taipei final, only to both fall in the semi-finals.

The week’s action also saw five player claim their first singles title wins: Catherine Harrison (W25 Fort Worth), Yan Bondarevskiy (M15 Telavi), Arklon Huertas Del Pino (M15 Novi Sad), Imanol Lopez Morillo (M15 Xativa) and Joshua Ortlip (M15 Cancun).