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The tennis stars of the future took the stage at the Women’s Pro Classic at the Pelham Racquet Club. (For the Reporter/Dawn Harrison)

By ANDREW SIMONSON ­| Sports Editor

PELHAM ­– The Pelham Racquet Club hosted the Women’s Pro Classic in partnership with the USTA from May 15-21.

Veronika Miroshnichenko won the women’s singles division and took home the $60,000 prize. Mexico’s Renata Zarazua was the runner-up.

Americans Makenna Jones and Jamie Loeb won the $60,000 doubles championship, while Robin Anderson of the USA and Elysia Bolton of Australia finished second.

Pelham hosted the Women’s Pro Classic for the 20^th time, and were honored by the USTA for the achievement with a special presentation.

The tournament is part of the USTA Pro Circuit, which players use as a path to the U.S. Open.

Miroshnichenko entered the tournament unseeded and drawn against the four-seed Yuki Naito. Although she lost the first set, 6-4, she came back to win the last two sets, 6-3 and 6-2.

In the second round, she swept American DJ Bennett, 6-2 and 6-4.

She defeated the sixth seeded Gabriella Ce from Brazil in the quarterfinals. It took a tiebreaker in the first set for Miroshnichenko to win, and after dropping the second set, 6-4, she needed a third set tiebreaker to take the match.

After advancing, she faced the second seed Robin Anderson, and she took the first set, 6-2 before winning a second set tiebreaker to complete the sweep.

She then faced the top seed Zarazua in the championship and beat her in the first set in another tiebreaker, and then she took the second set, 6-2, to secure the title.

In the doubles draw, the top seeds Jones and Loeb ran the table, not losing a set across their four matches in the tournament.

In the first round, they took on fellow Americans Ahmani Guichard and Akasha Urhobo and dominated, only dropping one game during their 6-1, 6-0 victory.

The quarterfinals saw them take on Alexa and Lia Karatancheva from Bulgaria. Jones and Loeb won again, taking the first set, 6-2, and the second set, 6-3.

They then beat Miroshnichenko and Maria Kononova in the semifinals before they took on Anderson and Elysia Bolton in the finals. They defeated Anderson and Bolton to take the championship, 6-4 and 7-5.

Current world number 1 Iga Swiatek competed in the Women’s Pro Classic at Pelham in 2018, winning without dropping a set.

This year’s pros hope to follow in the defending U.S. Open and French Open champion and reach the height of the sport as a major champion.

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