Boca Raton’s Vickery Wins $60K USTA Pro Circuit Title in California

Boca Raton’s 22-year-old Sachia Vickery won her biggest pro title on Sunday in California, defeating 2015 NCAA champion Jamie Loeb 6-1, 6-2 in the final of the $60,000 Central Coast Pro Tennis Open, a USTA Pro Circuit event in Templeton, Calif.

“This feels really good, especially after playing such a long match yesterday,” Vickery told KSBY TV. “Jamie’s such a great player and we’re such good friends so it’s always tough to play a friend.”

It was Vickery’s first USTA Pro Circuit title in almost three years, and brought her career record in finals to 3-2. In 2015 she won titles at Plantation, Fla., and Surprise, Ariz.

Vickery raced to a 5-0 lead in the first set and eventually ruined Loeb’s perfect 7-0 record in ITF/USTA Pro Circuit finals.

“It’s been an up and down year for me,” said Loeb, who was trying to add a second ITF/USTA Pro Circuit title to her resume in 2017 after raising the championship trophy in Launceston, Australia in February. “Sachia played great and I just wasn’t able to get anything going today. Congrats to her.”

The No. 4-seeded Vickery was tested twice en route to the final, in the second round defeating Japan’s Mari Oska 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, and in the semifinals again coming from a set down to oust top-seeded Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-3. Loeb, the No. 8 seed, cruised to the semifinals before needing three sets to defeat No. 5-seeded fellow American and former junior world No. 1 Taylor Townsend 6-4, 6-7(7), 7-6(6).

The 5-foot-4 Vickery rose to No. 115 on the WTA rankings, just short of her No. 108 career high set in 2015.

The doubles title was won by the American-Mexican tandem of Kaitlyn Christian and Giullana Olmos, the No. 4-seeded former USC teammates, who in the final upset the top-seeded Swiss pairing of Golubic and Amra Sadikovic 7-5, 6-3.

“We had never heard of Templeton before this week, and we’re from Southern California,” Christian said after the match. “Our chemistry was just amazing today and I just love playing with my old college doubles partner.”