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Mirra Andreeva Inspires UCLA Tennis Player To USTA SoCal Pro Series Title

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Perhaps inspired by watching fellow 19-year-old Mirra Andreeva win her first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros on Saturday, UCLA’s Mayu Crossley also took home a pro tournament title Sunday, winning Week 2 of the Lakewood SoCal Pro Series.

The No. 2 seeded Crossley, from Tokyo, Japan, beat two-time junior Grand Slam champion Kristina Penickova, the No. 8 seed 16-year-old from Campbell, California, 6-4, 6-3, for her second career ITF $15,000 pro singles title in the USTA Southern California hosted event played at the Lakewood Tennis Center.

“I definitely remember playing Mirra and was so impressed by how she played,” said Crossley, of the 2022 second-round meeting at the J300 ITF junior tourney in College Park, Md., which Andreeva won, 6-4, 6-1. “I had no idea who she was.”

Crossley, who was 1-3 in ITF pro finals before Sunday having won her first W15 in Orlando 13 months ago, said seeing her junior rivals like Andreeva and Torrance 18-year-old Iva Jovic, who is ranked No. 17 in the world, do so well in the Grand Slams gives her confidence she too might be able to achieve the same success.

“It’s really inspiring me a lot,” said Crossley, a former top 10 junior in the world. “Especially seeing what Iva has done. We all grew up together so it’s great to see them be successful and doing so good.”

With her last final exam in economics at UCLA on Tuesday looming, Crossley kept her focus long enough to beat Penickova, who was playing in her first tournament since a wrist injury sidelined her since last November.

“I am a little bit stressed out about my final,” Crossley admitted. “I had a pretty rough last week (losing in the semifinals), and I felt like I wasn’t playing well. I had more confidence this week and was happy with the way I played.”

Crossley plans to return to Japan after her final and after a few weeks off will head to her training base at Evert Academy in Florida before returning to Westwood for her sophomore season at the end of September.

Penickova, who finished 2025 as the No. 1 ITF junior in the world and won both the Australian Open and Wimbledon junior titles, said she was “super excited to be playing again” and will stay in SoCal and play Week 3 on the SoCal Pro Series at the Kramer Club in Rolling Hills.

Two Olivers, both former ITF top 10 juniors and who now play for powerhouse Texas colleges, battled it out in the men’s singles final as 18-year-old unseeded Oliver Bonding (Texas Christian University) from London outlasted qualifier Oliver Ojakaar (Texas), 7-5, 7-6 (1) in a rematch of an important dual match just three weeks ago. In that match, Ojakaar beat Bonding, 6-1, 6-3 at the No. 4 line leading the Longhorns into the NCAA Championships where they lost to Virginia, 4-3.

Sunday’s match was the 12th in the past 14 days in Lakewood for Ojakaar (pronounced OH-juh-car), who also had to qualify last week. “I haven’t had too much time off since January,” said Ojakaar, who clawed back from down 1-5 to equal the match before running out of gas in the tiebreaker. “I had known him from the juniors so I knew I had a chance and our level is 50-50.”

Estonia, formerly part of the Soviet Union, is a Baltic nation with a population of around 1.2 million, roughly the size of Ventura County. Two women’s players have put Estonia on the map the past few years – Anett Kontaveit,a former world No. 2,and Kaia Kanepi achieving a career-high ranking of No. 15 in 2012.

Both finalists have experience in the Grand Slams with Ojakaar winning the 2023 U.S. Open juniors doubles title and Bonding making it to the Wimbledon doubles final and the semis at the Aussie and French Open all with SoCal’s Jagger Leach, who originally committed to be a college teammate at TCU with Bonding before changing his mind and deciding to go to Stanford.

Not that Leach needed a tour guide with his mother Lindsay Davenport having won the 1999 singles and doubles titles at the All-England Club, but Bonding did offer as he grew up attending the King’s College School in the village of Wimbledon.

“It was great running around the grounds and trying to find courts to play on as a kid and getting to play on Court 1 in that Wimbledon final,” said Bonding, who will also play Kramer Club next week. “I was lucky enough to be at the 2019 final where [Novak] Djokovic saved two match points to beat [Roger] Federer.

Bonding won his first professional singles title at age 17, capturing the M15 in Lannion title in France in February of 2025.

In the doubles final both the men and women went the distance as the Canadian team of Mikael Arsenault and Volodymyr Gurenko edged out New Zealand’s Reece Falck (UNC-Wilmington) and Matthew Shearer (Nebraska), 6-3, 5-7, 10-8. In the women’s final, top-seeded Ava Hrastar and Victoria Mulville beat Kailey Evans (University of San Diego) and Lily Taylor, 6-3, 2-6, 11-9.

To learn more about the SoCal Pro Series, go to socalproseries.com.
Follow along on Instagram at instagram.com/socalproseries.
Like the Facebook page at facebook.com/socalproseries.

Womens Singles Finalists Penickova Crossley

Ben Shelton Claims Munich Crown as BMW Open by Bitpanda Delivers on All Fronts

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(by Florian Heer)

Shelton Claims Munich Crown as BMW Open by Bitpanda Delivers on All Fronts

American lifts biggest clay title of his career while Schnaitter/Wallner delight home fans and tournament organizers celebrate strong attendance and growth.

Ben Shelton captured the title of the 2026 BMW Open by Bitpanda, defeating fourth-seeded Italian Flavio Cobolli 6-2, 7-5 in Sunday’s singles final.

In front of packed stands on Center Court at the MTTC Iphitos, Shelton set the tone early, racing to a 4-0 lead in the opening set. Cobolli improved as the match progressed, but the world No. 6 remained rock solid on serve, saving all six break points he faced and converting three of his nine opportunities to seal victory in one hour and 30 minutes.

“I came out at a really high level,” said Shelton, who earned his fifth career title and third at ATP 500 level following Tokyo in 2023 and Dallas earlier this year.

“I have done that before against him, but the toughest thing is maintaining it, as he raises his level. I was able to do that in the second set, hanging in there when he played some great tennis, and I came through to win it in straight sets.

“I am happy with my performance this week. I got better and better as the week went on, and I am pleased with the work my team put in here.”

Shelton received a prize cheque of €478,935, as well as a brand-new BMW iX3 and traditional Bavarian Lederhosen. He also collected 500 ATP Ranking points.

“The car is great. It might be difficult to get it back to Florida, where I live,” Shelton said with a smile.

The Atlanta native has now claimed the biggest clay-court title by an American man since Andre Agassi won the ATP Masters 1000 in Rome in 2002 – the year Shelton was born.

“It’s huge. I have big ambitions on clay – a surface I want to keep improving on each year. It has become one of my favourite surfaces to play on.

“It’s a short season and some of the Americans choose not to play every event. But we had two guys in the quarterfinals of the French Open last year. Success on clay is coming back. I am looking forward to being part of this progression of U.S. men’s tennis on clay. On the women’s side, they have a lockdown as they won the French last year. We as the men have some more to do but we are heading into the right direction. This is just one step in a long swing and let’s see what happens.”

And how will he celebrate? “We’ll go to a restaurant we visited a couple of times this week and enjoy the moment before flying to Madrid,” Shelton concluded.

Local heroes shine in doubles

Earlier in the day, Jakob Schnaitter and Mark Wallner completed a dream run by winning the doubles title. The German qualifiers defeated the all-French duo Théo Arribagé and Albano Olivetti 6-4, 6-7(4), 12-10 in one hour and 44 minutes.

Both Bavarians played college tennis in the United States before turning professional. After six ATP Challenger Tour team titles, Schnaitter and Wallner secured their maiden ATP Tour crown, splitting €157,320 and earning 500 ranking points—projected to push them into the Top 40 for the first time.

“We started in qualifying and saw that as an advantage, as it gave us two extra matches in these conditions,” explained Wallner. “We stayed positive all week and tried to bring the energy from our family and friends onto the court.”

“It was a complicated match today, and we’re very happy to come off as winners. Tonight I’m heading to the Allianz Arena to support Bayern Munich and hopefully see them seal the title. After that, Jakob and I will celebrate at a restaurant.”

“It’s been a tough week with a lot of hard matches, so I’m pretty exhausted,” added Schnaitter. “I’ve been in touch with many people from my time in the U.S., including my former coaches. They’ve been checking in regularly.”

Strong crowds underline tournament success

The closing press conference of the BMW Open by Bitpanda painted a highly positive picture of this year’s edition, highlighting both sporting quality and continued growth off the court.

Tournament director Patrik Kühnen emphasized the strength of the player field, which delivered “dramatic, exciting and high-quality matches” throughout the week. Alongside established stars, several newcomers made their Munich debut, including Stefanos Tsitsipas and João Fonseca. Kühnen also pointed to rising talents such as Alexander Blockx, whom he expects to make an impact in the coming months. A key objective- engaging fans with world-class tennis – was clearly achieved, while the successful integration of the Allianz Para Trophy was praised as an important step toward greater inclusion.

From an organizational perspective, Christian Okon, managing director of the MMP Event, reported an official attendance of 70,000 spectators, with nearly all sessions sold out. The expansion of Center Court capacity and the upgrade of Court 1 into a fully-fledged second show court – with its own host, DJ, and vibrant atmosphere – added significant value for fans. Looking ahead, plans are underway for a Challenger tournament in Cologne in summer 2027, with the winner set to receive a wild card for the BMW Open by Bitpanda.

Fabian Tross, president of the license holder MTTC Iphitos, highlighted the successful transition to ATP 500 status, calling it a bold but ultimately correct decision that has elevated the tournament to a new level. “The strong engagement from club members – 300 to 400 attending daily – underlined local support,” said Tross. He also revealed long term infrastructure plans, with a new stadium scheduled for completion in 2028, further strengthening Munich’s position on the ATP Tour.

Wimbledon Day Nine Picks – Will A Novak Djokovic vs. Jannik Sinner Semifinal Happen?

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We are excited that our win-loss record is 20-4 through the first eight days, with three of the four losses being five-set matches and the other being affected by a player’s injury. Here’s our picks for Day nine!

Jessica Pegula vs. Marketa Vondrousova

This will be a fascinating match with Pegula’s compact strokes against the loopy, wing-span-ish style of Vondrousova. The Czech is definitely a hard out and has an Olympic silver medal and a Roland Garros runner-up on her resume, but Pegula will persist to reach her long-awaited for major semifinal. Pegula is still alive in the doubles with Coco Gauff, which is keeping her sharp.

Jannik Sinner vs. Roman Safiulin

This is an easy pick. It’s like taking Secretariat to show at the Belmont Stakes. Jannik Sinner is on a collision course with Novak Djokovic in the semifinals, which will be a corker.

Novak Djokovic vs. Andrey Rublev

There is no stopping the Novak Djokovic train. Rublev could sneak a set, but bank on Djokovic to face Sinner in the semifinals.

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal Favorites For The US Open

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by Michael Lemort

The US Open starts in late August and the favorites are Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal without a doubt. Not really a surprise as we know how huge those two champions are, but more than a year ago, who would have thought that the balance inside the Big Four would be so different than it is today!

Novak Djokovic was the invincible number one for several years and he had just won majors in a row in between two years after winning the French Open. But five months later, he gave up his throne to Andy Murray. The British player won Wimbledon, the Olympics and the Masters Cup in London and became the last member of the Big Four to be number one at the ATP rankings. Nadal and Federer, injured and obviously getting older, had withdrawn for the end of the season.

Today the Serbian has lost his four majors crowns, he hasn’t won a Masters 1000 this year and he is ranked number 4. Moreover he has just announced this week that he will withdraw for the rest of the season to heal an elbow injury and get some time off to take care of his family and get ready for next year!

Andy Murray, like Djokovic, hasn’t won a Major neither a Masters 1000 in 2017. Exhausted by his achievements of last year and also weakened (hip injury), he is about to lose his supremacy. Federer and Nadal, fresher than ever, are just behind him and have almost no ATP points to defend until the end of the season. Aged 36, the Swiss is more aggressive than he has ever been. He looks more impressive than he was back 10 years ago when he was at his top. He won the Australian Open, Indian Wells, Miami, Halle and Wimbledon (without dropping a set!) and he beat Nadal three times in a row for the first time of his career. The Spaniard won his tenth French Open (a record) after triumphing in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Madrid. Both of them have shared the big trophies this year and they will probably race against each other for the number one ATP ranking until the end of the season. Who would have thought about that a year ago?

Everybody also thought that, besides Murray or Djokovic, a new member of the next generation would hold some big trophies in 2017. But except Alexander Zverev in Roma (the only big tournament that Nadal and Federer haven’t won so far this year), they will have to wait some more as «  the old Roger and Rafa » still hunger for success and are not retired yet. Dominic Thiem, Milos Raonic and Grigor Dimitrov represent the best chances but after Nadal crushed the Austrian at Roland Garros and Federer did the same with the Canadian and the Bulgarian in London, on their favorite surface, the way to the top doesn’t seem that close. Kei Nishikori and Nick Kyrgios have been injured too much and their body seems fragile. Also Borna Coric, Frances Tiafoe and Andrey Rublev, all members of the teen « Next Gen », are getting better and tougher each year but they will probably need some more time to compete with the Top 10.

So Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal seem to have the best chances to hold the trophy at Flushing Meadows. But as we saw the turnover that happened between last year and this year, some more surprises, comebacks and upsets can happen very soon. And don’t forget that the defending champion hasn’t been mentioned yet ! Only player to have won several Majors besides the Big Four in the last 15 years, the other Swiss player, Stanislas Wawrinka, even though he is quite inconstant, could perfectly win two US Open back to back!

Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal

 

ATP Around the Corner: Clay court tennis previews in Casablanca and Houston

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The clay court season will have its work cut out for it in terms of matching the fast paced start to the 2012 season on the ATP World Tour.
We are just over three months into the grueling professional tennis schedule but have already witnessed some outstanding performances and intriguing story lines.
World number one Novak Djokovic has won the first Grand Slam of the year and seems prepared to continue the brilliance we saw from a year ago.
Roger Federer has improved upon his end to 2011 and compiled a 44-3 record since the U.S. Open in September. Suddenly being thirty doesn’t seem so bad does it?
John Isner seems poised to carry the weight of American tennis hopes after nearly ten years of dominance from Andy Roddick.
Andy Murray is still a mystery containing all the talent one could hope for, yet waiting for his first Grand Slam triumph that many thought would have happened by now. Perhaps teaming with former eight time major champ Ivan Lendl will see him over that barrier.
Rafael Nadal’s season is already surrounded by question marks as his knees are once again threatening to stall the great heights he is capable of attaining. Will we see the king of clay this spring?
The shift in surface will force everyone to adjust and soon we’ll see if the players above can continue to dominate the headlines in the tennis world.
Gran Prix Hassan II: Casablanca, Morocco
This level 250 event has Pablo Andujar as its defending champion from a year ago. With plenty of clay court events coming up over the next two months, many players see no hurry to dive into the field, which explains why this one is certainly weaker than what we will witness in the weeks to come.
The number one seed here is an under-whelming one with Florian Mayer from Germany holding the pole position. Mayer was never able to reach the same heights as Nicolas Kiefer and Tommy Haas were able to attain and he clearly is not the second coming of Boris Becker.
Unseeded Albert Montanes and Guillermo Garcia Lopez represent the strongest clay court opponents in this half of the draw, and I’d bank on one of them making it to the finals rather than Mayer.
In the bottom half, second seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov might state that clay is his favorite surface, but over the previous year where he has risen into the top thirty in the world, I’ve seen little evidence that he should be feared on the red dirt with the exception of a small tournament victory in Umag. That being said, I suppose this is the perfect type of tournament for him to step-up at.
The previously mentioned Andujar is the third seed and will surely be confident he can win a few matches once more at this venue. Ranked 39th in the world, Andujar lost five of his first six matches of the year, but recently took a set off Novak Djokovic on hard courts in Indian Wells before falling 6-0, 6-7(5), 6-2 in their fourth round encounter.
U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship: Houston, Texas

John Isner (VALERY HACHE/AFP/Getty Images)

Why anyone would waste their time playing on the har-tru courts in Houston has always been beyond me, yet there is decent field vying for the $79,000 winner’s check.
Seeded first is Mardy Fish who did not participate in this weekend’s Davis Cup victory over France due to exhaustion. I wouldn’t bet for Fish to go too far due to the surface here. He gets a first round bye which also likely won’t do him much good when he potentially faces Daniel Gimeno-Traver, who is a decent clay court player.
Juan Monaco is seeded fourth and is my pick to navigate his way through to the finals. Monaco has had a good run lately on hard courts where he surprisingly made it to the semi-finals of Miami. Look for that confidence to translate into further success on clay as well.
The bottom half of the draw is fairly wide open. I’d expect for the confident John Isner to continue to build on his break-out season. Isner has made his first ATP Masters final in Indian Wells and has performed quite well on clay as well, with huge Davis Cup victories over Roger Federer and the Swiss as well as Jo Wilfried-Tsonga and the French.
Feliciano Lopez is seeded third but has been his usual inconsistent self of late, while big-serving Ivo Karlovic is always a threat even on a slower surface like this one.
Fans of American veteran James Blake might want to check him out in what I’m sure will be his last season on the pro tour. Blake is currently ranked 74th in the world but has been plagued by injuries for the past few seasons and I can’t see him continuing to trudge along for much longer in this state. He opens against sixth seeded Carlos Berlocq.
After this week, things will heat up with the Monte Carlo Masters 1000 event that will surely draw all the big names back into the mix. Enjoy the transition and the build-up to next month’s French Open!

Around The Corner: Life After The Davis Cup

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With the opening round of the Davis Cup wrapping up on Sunday, the ATP World Tour will now shift back into form with three tournaments in Rotterdam, San Jose and Sao Paulo. Here’s a closer look at the draws from all three events and some analysis on who stands the best chance of making it to the final weekend.
ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament
The largest of the three being played this week, the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament is a level 500 event. An indoor hard-court event, Roger Federer will be looking for the surface to bring him some much needed success. A disastrous Davis Cup showing at home on clay has left Federer clearly confused about the status of his game. Rather than admit he played poorly, Federer instead shifted the blame onto country-man Stan Wawrinka. It was a rare moment of bad judgement from Federer. He opens with Nicolas Mahut from France and then could potentially face a dangerous opponent in Mikhail Youzhny who won the title recently in Zagreb.
The always tricky Alexandr Dolgopolov is also in the same quarter as Federer. The two have only played once, with Federer winning in Basel two years ago. Dolgopolov has come a long way since then and with the way Roger played this past week, you’d have to think this could be a great QF match.
Richard Gasquet, Feliciano Lopez and former top-ten presence Nikolay Davydenko are in the following quarter of the draw. I’d give a well-rested Gasquet (he did not travel to Canada for Davis Cup) the best shot of emerging here.

Juan Martin del Potro will be in action this week in Rotterdam

Juan Martin Del Potro is the third seed and should be able to navigate his way through the third quarter of the draw. He opens against Michael Llodra of France who has to get all the way from Vancouver, Canada to Rotterdam in the next twenty-four hours.
At the bottom of the draw is second seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic who has had some success lately with a big win in Montpellier over Gael Monfils. Berdych had a very solid 2011 where he won one event and reached eight tournament semi-finals and seven tournament quarter-finals. He is really starting to find that consistency that will make him a mainstay in the top-ten. A meeting in the second round with Marcos Baghdatis looms, but otherwise Berdych should be able to set-up a semi-final encounter with Del Potro that would be highly entertaining.
Regardless of the results, the tournament is guaranteed a new winner this year as Robin Soderling is not yet healthy enough to defend the title which he has held for the past two years. I’m gonna give the nod to Berdych in this one and I have a feeling that Federer’s recent troubles might continue with an early exit this week.
Brasil Open 2012
Played on clay, the Brasil Open attracts some of the usual dirt-ballers one might expect to see. Nicolas Almagro is the defending champion and also won this event in 2008. He has played some pretty decent ball on hard-courts so far this year so we’ll see if that continues on his favourite surface. Almagro is seeded first and gets a bye into the second round. His quarter is pretty sparse which should help him get his clay-court wheels going.
Fernando Verdasco is the third seed and has a nice section in his quarter as well. Take a look at veteran Fernando Gonzalez from Chile if possible as he has already announced his retirement to take place in Miami this coming March. Injuries have really taken away Gonzo’s physical and mental endurance but hopefully he has a little magic left in him before he says goodbye.
In the bottom-half of the draw, aging Juan Carlos Ferrero the eighth seed and Thomaz Bellucci the fourth seed will likely fight it out for a spot in the quarter, while the bottom quarter is the most interesting with David Nalbandian who is unseeded, Albert Montanes and second seeded Gilles Simon.
Almagro gets my vote of confidence to take this one based on his clay-court prowess and success at this venue in previous years.
SAP Open
A year ago the ATP World Tour took notice of fast-rising Canadian sensation Milos Raonic when he won his first-ever event here in San Jose. Unfortunately for Canadian tennis fans, a repeat will be very difficult to achieve for several reasons.
Firstly, Raonic was forced to pull-out of the Davis Cup tie against France on Sunday with pain in his knee that had been already taped throughout the event. Will he even be healthy enough to play in San Jose?
Beyond the injury debate, Milos has a tough draw that sets him up with first-seeded Gael Monfils in a possible semi-final match-up. He will also have to contend with having the entire draw gunning for him as the defending champ. Coming into an event as the title-holder is quite different from what he experienced a year ago.
In the bottom-half things will be pretty wide-open with Andy Roddick returning from an injury he suffered at the Australian Open and occupying the second seed. Who knows what kind of game the former American No. 1 will bring with him but his lack of match play will hinder his changes.
Underachieving Sam Querrey, aging Radek Stepanek and vet Julien Benneteau round-out the bottom half in terms of potential contenders. I’d look for one of them rather than Roddick to make their way to the finals against Monfils who appears to be over the knee problems that he was dealing with upon his arrival to Canada for the Davis Cup.