IT was party time for the home town crowd at Newport Beach, with a couple of Americans saluting in the Newport Beach Challenger WTA and ATP finals. Madison Brengle got up in three sets over fellow 29-year-old Stefanie Voegele, while Thai-Son Kwiatkowski defeated Daniel Elahi Galan in much easier circumstances.

Women’s:

The fifth seed American took down her sixth seed Swiss counterpart 6-1 3-6 6-2 in an hour and 43 minutes to claim the WTA Newport Beach Challenger title. Brengle only won 56.3 and 51.6 per cent of her first and second serve points, but easily surpassed Voegele’s respective 44.7 and 40.0 per cent. It was in her return games where Brengle stood up, breaking eight times from 11 opportunities, while Voegele secured five of 10. The title was Voegele’s first outside the ITF circuit after being a one-time finalist in Hobart back in 2015.

[5] M. Brengle (USA) defeated [6] S. Voegele (SUI) 6-1 3-6 6-2

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Men’s:

Kwiatkowski needed less than an hour to down Galan in a 57-minute 6-4 6-1 rout of his higher ranked opponent. The American is ranked almost 100 places lower than his 186th placed opponent, but the world number 271 stood tall under pressure with 81 and 80 per cent first and second serve points won percentages. He dropped just eight points for the match on serve and saved both break point opportunities. It was not the same for Galan who struggled on serve despite five aces, producing win percentages of only 69 and 30 per cent on his first and second serve points and was broken four times. Like Brengle, this is Kwiatkowski’s first Challenger title.

T. Kwiatkowski (USA) defeated D. Galan (COL) 6-4 6-1