UTR PRO MATCH SERIES PRESENTED BY TENNIS CHANNEL
POST MATCH RECAP: SUNDAY MAY 24
UTR PRO MATCH SERIES COMES TO A CLOSE
First Pro Women’s Tennis Event To Return Since Pandemic
Rain Brings Tournament To An Early Close
May 24th, 2020 – Alison Riske, Amanda Anisimova, Danielle Collins and Ajla Tomljanović returned to the private court in West Palm Beach, FL for the final time to determine the winner of the UTR Pro Match Series, and the winner of the first pro women’s tennis event since the global shutdown.
The day was set to have Collins and Tomljanovic finish their 3rd set from Saturday to determine who would move on to face Riske in the finals, or Anisimova in the 3rd/4th round. Each day, the competition intensified, and if the last two days were any indication, Day 3 was set to dazzle. Unfortunately, Mother Nature had other plans, with flood warnings and heavy rain in the forecast. Tournament organizers made the difficult decision to cancel the remainder of the event without awarding a winner. The official statement from Universal Tennis follows:
We have made the difficult decision to cancel the remainder of the UTR Pro Match Series due to heavy rain and a flood warning here in West Palm Beach. Thank you to the staff, officials, and our friends at Tennis Channel for helping make this event possible. And a huge thank you to the incredible players who brought their A games to the UTR Pro Match Series – what a way to bring back live sports! It’s been a fantastic 2 weeks of tennis, thank YOU for tuning in and supporting the game we all love.
Players climbed up the leaderboard based on their 1:1 match play results, not on points per round. While there is no official winner of the UTR Pro Match Series, the final standings are as follows:
- Alison Riske 2-1 (d. Collins)
- Danielle Collins 1-1
- Ajla Tomljanović 1-1
- Amanda Anisimova 1-2 (d. Tomljanović)
The UTR Pro Match Series is the first live tennis tournament to be broadcast internationally since the world shut down due to the pandemic, and showcases a vision for how tennis can be played locally and safely with 1:1 match play, and have results count globally via the Universal Tennis Rating (UTR). UTR MatchPlay helps players get back into the game by organizing safe, local one on one matches where results count for their universal tennis rating. Anyone in the world can create a match, play, and post your score. To kick off the new platform, anyone who registers for UTR MatchPlay now through June 5 will be eligible to win a free one week trip to train at the world-renowned IMG Academy for themselves and their UTR MatchPlay opponent.
Every UTR Pro Match Series event follows enhanced safety precautions, implementing strict screening, cleaning and social distancing measures for players, officials and staff. There are no spectators, no handshakes and no ballkids. The court and facility are professionally disinfected before and after play. Each player provides their own set of marked balls for use during the match. Players provide their own drinks and towels, and each have their own separate tented area off the court.
The UTR Pro Match Series kicked off on May 8th with the men’s event, where Reilly Opelka nabbed the win after battling it out in the Round Robin best of 3 Fast 4 sets against fellow ATP Top 60 pros Hubert Hurkacz, Miomir Kecmanovic and Tommy Paul. The women’s event followed May 22 – 24 on the same outdoor court, with the same format.
PLAYER LINEUP
- Alison Riske – 4th ranked American, WTA #19, UTR 13.19 (#14)
- Amanda Anisimova – 5th ranked American, WTA #28, UTR 13.04 (#33)
- Danielle Collins – 8th ranked American, WTA #51, UTR 13.07 (#28)
- Ajla Tomljanović – 2nd ranked Australian, WTA #56, UTR 12.85 (#68)
