Turati sisters win first title together
Doubles triumphs for twins Ana and Bianca Turati and Hunter and Yates Johnson ensured it was a family affair during week 43 of the ITF World Tennis Tour in the American state of Texas.
The Turati sisters from Italy picked up their first title together at the W15 Austin tournament while some 190 miles north the Johnson brothers recorded their eleventh doubles title with victory at M25 Fort Worth.
Unseeded, the Italian sisters did not drop a set until the final when the number one South American seeds Melany Solange Krywoj and Fernanda Labrana, from Argentina and Chile respectively, forced the title match into a deciding match tiebreaker, which the twins dominated, securing a first title together with a 6-3 1-6 [10-4] win.
The Johnson brothers, seeded two in Fort Worth, had mixed fortunes en route to their latest final. A tough opening round saw the brothers claim two closely contested sets 6-4 7-5 over fellow American Reese Stalder and his British partner Ryan Peniston and then were awarded a walkover into the semi-final. An all-American clash with Harrison Adams and George Goldhoff saw the brothers fall behind before winning through to the final 4-6 6-3 [10-5] to set up another all-American match-up with Charlie Emhardt and Alfredo Perez.
In the title match the Johnsons dropped just six games, with a 6-2 6-4 win taking the brothers to their eleventh career title as a partnership.
In addition to her triumph alongside her sister, Bianca Turati also won the singles title, a feat matched by three other players over the weekend. Ekaterina Kazionova won both singles and doubles titles at the W15 Oslo tournament in Norway with Roberto Cid Subvesi and Petros Chrysochos winning both titles at the M25 events in Fayetteville, USA and Monastir, Tunisia respectively.
Two players came away from the week with their career first pro singles titles. In Qatar, Marat Deviatiarov won the M15 Doha title while Andrew Paulson won in his homeland at the M15 Liberec tournament in the Czech Republic.
At 17, Paulson was also one of eight teenage champions in week 43 with the youngest being 16-year-old Viktoryia Kanapatskaya. The Belarusian player triumphed in Egypt at the W15 Sharm El Sheikh tournament adding to her previous two titles won during September.
There were five tournaments spread around the globe offering over $60,000 in prize money in the women’s game last week.
Hungary staged the largest of these with a W100 tournament in Szekesfehervar which saw Danka Kovinic, seeded third and a former WTA Top 50 player, see off her fourth seeded opponent Irina-Camelia Begu in three sets to claim a first title at this level since a 2016 win in Marseille.
Two W80 tournaments were held either side of the Atlantic bringing a first title at this level for both Katerina Stewart (W80 Macon, USA) and Nina Stojanovic (W80 Poitiers, France).
In Canada at the W60 Saguenay tournament, Indy De Vroome recovered from a set down in the final against Robin Anderson for her biggest title win of her pro career while in Australia, Lizette Cabrera won her second W60 title of the year in Bendigo.