Nicole Gibbs made an impressive return to action on the ITF World Tennis Tour after missing two months of the 2019 season to recover from a rare form of cancer.

The 26-year-old American was diagnosed with cancer of the salivary gland in May, undergoing surgery that kept her out of both Roland Garros and Wimbledon despite her initial hopes of making a return at the All England Club.

Instead, she kick-started her preparations for the US Open at W60 Honolulu, where she reached the final with wins over four American compatriots, only to fall in the final to Argentine-born American Usue Maitane Arconada, who claimed the biggest title of her career to date – and her third ITF World Tennis Tour crown of 2019 – with a 6-0 6-2 victory.

Ukraine’s Katarina Zavatska also reached new heights with victory at W100 Contrexeville, following up her 4-6 6-3 6-3 semi-final win over Swiss No.2 seed Stefanie Voegele with victory in the final, beating Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri 6-4 6-4. With that, the 19-year-old broke into the WTA Tour top 150 for the first time at No.133.

Nina Stojanovic denied Katharina Hobgarski her first title of 2019 and a win on home soil with victory at W60 Versmold, defeating the German 6-0 7-5 in the final to rise to No.200 in the WTA Tour rankings. The Serbian, whose singles ranking peaked at No.121 in 2017, is also ranked No.112 in doubles.

Italy has been good to Christian Lindell in 2019. The Swede claimed his second M25 title of the season on Italian clay at Casinalbo, beating ITF Ranking entrant Christopher O’Connell 7-6(5) 5-7 6-3 in the final. It was a similar story at M25 Ajaccio for fellow ITF Ranking entrant Quentin Robert, who reached the final before losing to French compatriot Laurent Lokoli 3-6 7-5 6-3.

Australia’s Maddison Inglis rounded out a fine week at W25 Saskatoon with a 6-4 2-6 6-4 victory over Canadian home hope and top seed Katherine Sebov, while Elisabetta Cocchiaretto missed out on a title on home soil at W25 Torino, losing to Japan’s Yuki Naito 6-3 6-4 in the final.

But China were guaranteed a victory for one of their own by the semi-finals at W25 Ulanqab, where Jia-Jing Lu emerged victorious from the all-China quartet that reached the semi-finals, downing Yue Yuan 6-7(9) 6-3 6-3 for the title.

Great Britain’s Mark Whitehouse swept the titles at M15 Norman, OK, claiming a 7-6(5) 6-4 win over Ezekiel Clark before partnering compatriot David Fox to claim the doubles crown, the No.2 seeds downing top pair Alexander Cozbinov and Ricardo Rodriguez 6-4 3-6 [10-7]. American Ronan Jachuck, an ITF Junior-ranked entrant, reached the semi-finals.