Chirico captures the Tevlin Challenger, beats Cross in the final

Professional women’s tennis touched down in Toronto this past week for the W75 Tevlin Challenger at Sobeys Stadium. American Louisa Chirico claimed the title in singles, overcoming Canadian Kayla Cross, while Jamie Loeb and Justine Mikulskyte captured the doubles crown.

Chirico entered the field as one of the most experienced players, having reached a career-high ranking of No. 58 back in 2016, and she imposed her talent from the outset in Toronto.

After overcoming last week’s Saguenay champion Petra Marcinko in three sets in her opening round match, she reeled off three consecutive straight set wins to advance to the final.

Facing 19-year-old Cross, Chirico dug deep to escape an early deficit. The American rallied from a break down to win the opening set in a tiebreak and then maintained her high level to capture the title 7-6(5), 6-3.

“I’m just really happy with how I competed this week,” said the American.

“I think there were a number of really tough matches, there are a lot of great players here, so I’m really happy to get the win.”

With her runner-up finish, Cross, a native of London, Ontario, moves to a new career high ranking of No. 273. The left-hander has reached three ITF singles finals this year, having won her first at the Saskatoon Challenger in August.

Read more: Dabrowski and Routliffe kickoff WTA Finals with win

Also in singles, Katherine Sebov reached the quarter-finals, defeating fellow Canadians Scarlett Nicholson and Stacey Fung along the way before withdrawing from the tournament due to injury.

Loeb and Mikulskyte claim doubles crown

In doubles, American Jamie Loeb and Justina Mikulskyte of Lithuania captured the title, defeating France’s Julie Belgraver and Dutchwoman Jasmijn Gimbrere 6-2, 6-1 in the final.

Loeb and Mikulskyte, the second seeds at the event, had to overcome a tough quarter-final, rallying past Canadian Isabelle Boulais and American Amy Zhu 4-6, 6-4, 10-5. From there, the pairing dropped just eight games en route to the title.

It’s Mikulskyte’s 23^rd career ITF doubles title and an 18^th for Loeb, who was previously runner-up at the Tevlin Challenger in 2022.

Canadians Cross and Ariana Arseneault, who were the top seeds in doubles, lost in the semifinals to Belgraver and Gimbrere.

The Canadian fall ITF swing continues out east this week in Quebec with the M25 Saint-Augustin.