The Netherlands’ Arantxa Rus and Peru’s Nicolas Alvarez won the women’s and men’s titles respectively over the weekend at the ITF World Tour $25,000 tournament, part of the Oracle Pro Series, in Orlando at the USTA National Campus.
The top-seeded Rus in the women’s final defeated unseeded Irina Fetecau of Romania 6-3, 6-2 for her 24th career ITF/USTA Pro Circuit title.
A former world No. 1-ranked junior, Rus avoided catastrophe in her opening round when she lost the first set 6-0 but rebounded to win in a third-set tiebreaker over unseeded Gabriela Tabala of Romania. She then beat Americans Dasha Ivanova and Claire Liu in straight sets before easing past No. 8-seeded German Stephanie Wagner 6-3, 6-0 to move into the final.
Fetecau was forced to work hard throughout the week, winning her first three matches in three sets before easing past American Maria Mateas 6-2, 6-0 to advance into the championship round.
The 28-year-old Rus is now 24-10 in career ITF/USTA Pro Circuit finals, improving to 10-1 this year, and winning her 10th consecutive final in a row. Fetecau was attempting to win a second career title after a $15,000 event victory in Cairo last year.
The unseeded tandem of American Katherine Fahey and the German Wagner won the doubles title, in the final defeating the No. 3-seeded team of Brazil’s Carolina Meligeni Rodrigues Alves and Mexico’s Renata Zarazua 4-6, 6-2, 10-7.
The men’s final saw the No. 3 Alvarez of Peru upset No. 2 seed Pedro Sakamoto of Brazil 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, then team with Sakamoto to win the doubles title.
Alvarez’s only other singles challenge came in the second round when he outlasted Justin Roberts of the Bahamas 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. Sakamoto avoided an upset in the quarterfinals when he beat No. 7 seed Adam Moundir of Morocco 3-6, 6-3, 6-4, and in the semifinals when he came back from a set down to outlast No. 4 Tomas Martin Etcheverry of Argentina 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.
The 23-year-old Alvarez, who played for Duke University, improved to 3-3 in career ITF/USTA Pro Circuit finals, this year also winning in January at Palm Coast ($25,000) Fla., and finishing runner-up at Cancun ($15,000) Mexico. Sakamoto was attempting to add to titles he won earlier this year at Pinamar ($15,000) Argentina and Huelva ($25,000) Spain.
The top-seeded Alvarez-Sakamoto in the doubles final defeated the unseeded American pair of Charlie Emhardt and former University of Florida standout and “Bobby Curtis” junior champion Alfredo Perez 7-6(3), 4-6, 10-8.
For more information, visit www.ustanationalcampus.com.
