Kalinina, Cagnina Win Florida USTA Pro Circuit Stops in Orlando, Sunrise

From left behind ball persons: Anhelina Kalinina and Julia Grabher

Two Florida USTA Pro Circuit events concluded on Sunday when top-seeded Anhelina Kalinina of the Ukraine won the USTA National Campus Pro Tennis Classic in Orlando, and Belgium’s Julien Cagnina won the City of Sunrise Pro Tennis Classic title.

Kalinina, coming off the Daytona Beach title a week earlier, in the final at the USTA National Campus defeated Julia Grabher of Austria 6-2, 3-6, 7-5. In the third set the 20-year-old Kalinina served for the match at 5-3, but wasn’t able to wrap it up until holding serve for a 6-5 lead then breaking to close out the match.

Prior to the singles final a free Net Generation Team Challenge with local youth players was held.

“There was such a high-level of tennis all week and the fans were treated to entertaining matches,” said Tournament Director Milagros Sequera Huss. “We also had well-attended community events where we gained new fans and celebrated tennis.”

Veterans Appreciation Night

The USTA National Campus Pro Tennis Classic on quarterfinals night also featured a Veterans Appreciation Night, where military veterans were treated with clinics, USTA Florida camo hats, food vouchers, and were honored with a ceremony prior to the start of play.     

In the Saturday semifinals Kalinina defeated unseeded American Jessica Pegula 6-2, 6-2, while Grabher beat fellow unseeded player Ayano Shimizu of Japan 6-3, 6-4. Grabher in the second round upended No. 2-seeded Irina Maria Bara of Romania.

It was Kalinina’s fifth consecutive win in a ITF/USTA Pro Circuit final after posting a 3-0 win-loss last year in finals at Daytona Beach, Wesley Chapel (Fla.), and Darmstadt (Germany). She improved to 8-5 in career finals. The Austrian Fed Cup player Grabher was appearing in her first USTA Pro Circuit final of the year, and dropped to 5-10 in career ITF/USTA Pro Circuit finals.

China’s Hanyu Guo and Taipei’s Ching-Wen Hsu won the all-unseeded doubles final, in the championship match defeating Norway’s Urikke Eikeri and Belarus’ Ilona Kremen 6-3, 3-6, 12-10.

Julien Cagnina

In the Sunrise final the No. 2-seeded Cagnina defeated Japan’s unseeded Naoki Nakagawa 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-3 for his first ITF/USTA Pro Circuit title of the year.

Last year the 23-year-old Cagnina won seven ITF Futures titles in Europe, all on clay. It was his 17th career title and first in the U.S. The 21-year-old Nakagawa, a Bradenton, Fla. resident, was appearing in only his second ITF/USTA Pro Circuit final after winning in Mexico in 2013 as a junior. The following year he won the US Open boys’ doubles title.

Cagnina in the semifinals eased past No. 6 seed Pedro Sakamoto of Brazil 6-1, 6-4, while Nakagawa gained the final after a 6-4, 6-4 win over unseeded Marcelo Tomas Barrios Vera of Chile. Cagnina also captured the doubles title with France’s Maxime Chazal, in the all-unseeded final defeating Colombia’s Juan Manuel Benitez Chavarriaga and American Junior Ore 1-6, 7-5, 10-4.

With more than 90 tournaments hosted annually throughout the country and prize money ranging from $15,000-$125,000, the USTA Pro Circuit is the pathway to the US Open and tour-level competition for aspiring tennis players and a frequent battleground for established professionals. Andy Murray, Maria Sharapova, John Isner, Sloane Stephens, Kei Nishikori, Victoria Azarenka, and Sam Querrey and are among today’s top stars who began their careers on the USTA Pro Circuit.
For more info go to www.procircuit.usta.com.