Surprise entrant Kanepi takes title at Czech W15 event

As 2019 begins to wind down, the ITF World Tennis Tour continues to have a number of exciting events each week.

Kaia Kanepi was a surprise wild card entrant at the W15 Milovice event in the Czech Republic and the top-ranked Estonian, the WTA No. 105, defeated Anastasia Kulikova of Finland 6-4, 6-3.

The win is likely to take her to around 102 in the WTA rankings and improve her chances of qualifying directly for the Main Draw of the Australian Open in January. Kulikova was one of two Finnish players to reach the finals over the past week. Oona Orpana of Finland lost a hard-fought three set contest to North Macedonian player Lina Gjorcheska, ultimately going down 4-6, 7-6, 6-1 in Antalya, Turkey.

At the M15 Maldonado tournament in Uruguay, all of the quarter-finalists in singles and doubles were Argentinian players. Santiago Rodriguez Taverna claimed the singles title by defeating compatriot Mariano Kestelboim 3-6, 6-2, 6-1. Meanwhile, Gabriel Alejandro Hidalgo and Federico Moreno defeated Franco Emanuel Egea and Guido Ivan Justo 6-4, 6-4 for the doubles title.

Dutchwoman Indy De Vroome claimed the only Women’s $25,000 event played last week, defeating Urszula Radwanska of Poland 6-1, 6-2 at W25 Solarino, Italy.
Darya Astakhova continues to dazzle in singles and doubles in Greece having claimed back-to-back singles titles at the W15 Heraklion events. She defeated Noelia Zeballos of Bolivia 6-2, 6-0 in the singles final. In doubles, Darya and her partner Lina Glushko of Israel contested a hard-fought final against Romanian players Ilinca Dalina Amariei and Alessia Beatrice Ciuca, but fell 6-3, 6-3.

Italian player, Marion Viertler claimed her first pro title of the week. She won the W15 Cairo event after beating Egyptian local Lamis Alhusseib Abdel Aziz 6-1, 6-4. Nathan Seaateun also claimed his first pro title of his career after beating fellow Frenchmen Alexis Musialek 6-2, 6-0 in Gran Caneria at the M15 Telde tournament.

Jan Choinski of Great Britain reached both the singles and doubles final at M15 Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, winning the singles crown with a 3-6 6-4 6-4 triumph over Germany’s Daniel Altmaier. Mijan Zetic of Serbia was able to capture the singles and doubles title at the M15 Antalya. In singles he defeated Pavel Kotov of Russia 3-6 6-4 7-6, and he and his partner, Duje Ajdukovic, won the doubles in straight sets.