Photo: Neena Channan
The singles draw at the Tevlin Challenger has reached the final stage with just two players remaining in title contention at the $60,000 ITF World Tennis Tour event currently being held at Sobeys Stadium in Toronto.
Saturday’s first semifinal saw top-seeded Su Jeong Jang of the Korea Republic, ranked no. 127 in the world, get the better of Polish qualifier and former world no. 29 Urszula Radwanska 7-6(8), 6-3 after more than two hours of play. With the win, Jang advances to her third final of the season and will be looking to remain undefeated in singles championship matches in 2022 after capturing a pair of titles on clay, first at the $60,000 ITF event in Canberra, Australia in April and then at the WTA $125,000 Series tournament in Bastad, Sweden this summer. The 27-year-old has also contested the qualifying at all four Grand Slam this year and earned a main draw berth at the Australian Open where she fell to Danka Kovinic in the opening round.
Jang will face fourth-seeded American Robin Anderson, ranked no. 180 in the world, for the trophy in Toronto. Anderson defeated Eudice Wong Chong of Hong Kong 7-6(2), 6-4 in Saturday’s second semifinal and will be looking to take home her second piece of Tevlin Challenger hardware after being crowned champion in doubles the last time the tournament was played in 2019 alongside Jessika Ponchet of France. The 29-year-old will be going after her second singles title of the season in her second final appearance. In May, she lifted the winner’s trophy on home soil at the $60,000 ITF women’s event in Orlando, Florida after beating her compatriot Sachia Vickery in the final.
In doubles, Jang and her Czech partner Michaela Bayerlova, seeded second in the draw, were the last team standing thanks to a 6-3, 6-2 victory over the third-seeded pair of Aussie Elysia Bolton and American Jamie Loeb. The triumph is Jang’s third ITF doubles title of the year and Bayerlova’s second.
Championship Sunday gets underway at 12:00 p.m. ET with the presentation of the singles final. The match will be preceded by the second edition of The Girls. Set. Match. Tie-break Tournament presented by National Bank, which aims to provide girls with a unique opportunity to compete in a fun, short-format tournament that removes the pressure of regular competition.
