Roberts ends Bahamas’ 13-year title drought

Winning your first professional singles title is an unforgettable feeling, experienced by seven players on the ITF World Tennis Tour in Week 29.

For Justin Roberts, his maiden title at M25 Cancun makes him just the third player from the Bahamas to win an ITF professional singles crown – and the first in 13 years, joining previous winners Ryan Sweeting in 2006 and Mark Merklein in 2000.

A week after winning his first doubles title with Jody Maginley at the same venue, the 22-year-old beat four seeds in three sets en route to the title, coming from behind to beat top seed Jack Draper 3-6 7-6(5) 6-4 in the semi-finals and first-time finalist Kalman Boyd 3-6 7-6(8) 6-4 for the title.

Canada’s recent record of producing impressive junior talent was underscored once more at W25 Gatineau, where recently-crowned Roland Garros girls’ singles champion Leylah Annie Fernandez claimed both the singles and doubles titles on home soil.

The 16-year-old downed Carson Branstine 3-6 6-1 6-2 in an all-Canadian final before teaming up with compatriot Rebecca Marino to beat No.3 seeds Chieh-Yu Hsu and Marcela Zacarias 7-6(5) 6-3.

In Italy and Portugal, two ITF Junior ranking entrants enjoyed runs to their first ITF World Tennis Tour finals. At M15 Gubbio in central Italy, Francesco Passaro knocked out three seeds to reach the final, where Argentina’s Gonzalo Villanueva proved too strong, taking the title 7-5 6-2.

At M15 Castelo Branco in Portugal, Nicolas Alvarez Varona beat big-serving No.2 seed Albano Olivetti 7-6(4) 6-2 in the semi-finals, only to come up short against Eduardo Struvay in the final, the Colombian prevailing 6-4 7-6(4) for his second title of 2019.

Marie Bouzkova celebrated her 21st birthday in style at W80 Nur-Sultan, backing up her doubles triumph alongside Germany’s Vivian Heisen by claiming the biggest singles title of her career to date with a 6-3 6-3 victory over Serbia’s Natalija Kostic, completing her sweep to the title without dropping a set.

Other big winners in the women’s game were Bulgarian Fed Cup player Viktoriya Tomova (W80 Biarritz) and former WTA No.35 Madison Brengle (W60 Berkeley), who like Bouzkova also took the doubles crown.

Three ITF reserved ranking entrants reached the semis or better in Week 29 before falling to the eventual champions. In Spain, Pedro Vives Marcos saw his run at M25 Gandia come to an end in a 6-4 7-6(3) loss to Jaume Pla Malfeito, who went on to win his maiden singles title.

At W25 Qujing in China, Xu Liu Sun also lost in the semi-finals, beaten by Aleksandrina Naydenova after taking the first set, 4-6 6-1 6-2.

Maiar Sherif reached the W25 Baja final in Hungary, where a win would have seen her move clear at the top of the current ITF World Tennis Tour women’s title-winners leaderboard. However, the Egyptian was denied a sixth title by home favourite Reka-Luca Jani, who claimed the crown with a 6-3 2-6 6-2 win.