From a first title on the WTA level to first titles at ITF Junior Circuit Grade 5s, the accomplishments of April span an impressive range of competitive tennis. Former collegians and teenagers from around the world are among the 15 in the spotlight below. Due to my previous coverage of April’s International Spring Championships, those four champions are not included, but another round of congratulations to Winta Woldeab, Alexander Chang, Liam Draxl and Hurricane Tyra Black are in order.
The 17-year-old Floridian hadn’t won a WTA main draw match on clay before last month, but she claimed her first WTA title on the surface in Bogota, Colombia in April. Seeded sixth, the 2017 U.S. Open girls champion won four of her five matches in three sets, including the 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 decision in the final opposite Australian Astra Sharma, the former Vanderbilt star. The youngest player in the WTA Top 100 and the youngest American to win a WTA title since Serena Williams in 1999, Anisimova now has a career-high ranking of 53.
Kaja Juvan
The 18-year-old from Slovenia capped her junior career with a Youth Olympics gold medal last fall, and on the ITF World Tennis Tour this spring has gone 12-2 in three events, including a seventh career title at a $25,000 WTT tournament in Italy. Seeded No. 5, Juvan took the winner’s trophy when No. 7 seed Alexandra Cadantu of Romania retired trailing 6-1, 3-0 in the final. Juvan then joined the WTT in the United States, reaching the semifinals of the $80,000 tournament in Charlottesville, Virginia, a result that boosted her WTA ranking to a career-high 127. (Photo credit: Paul Ballard)
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