Christine Kandler capped off a great week in Atlanta beating Brooke Austin 0-6,7-5,7-6, to win the Grade 4 ITF tournament at the Racquet Club Of The South.
Kandler has been working under the guidance of Mark Gellard for almost a year and has seen her ranking skyrocket to 588 WTA and will now be ranked inside the top 250 ITF, moving her closer to a spot in the upcoming Australian Open Junior Grand-Slam. After the successful week Mark had this to say;
"Christine has worked very hard on and off the court with her physical conditioning, and this has really helped to create a feeling of belief and confidence that she has not had before. This is one of this first times I have seen her be able to successfully put together high level matches back to back".
Kandler was handed a tough draw in Atlanta having to beat Vicky Duvall in the Quarter finals, Anne-Liz Jeukeng Nkamgouo in the semi-finals and Brooke Austin in the finals. After the final Christine had this to say about the match, “I did not play my best tennis in the final but I fought hard and found a way to win”.
Kandler came in to the tournament ranked 352 in the Junior ITF rankings, but will now move to approx 250. Mark and Christine will now head back to the practice court this week in order to prepare for the Evert ITF tournament, starting on November 8th.
After the slightly nerve-wracking but victorious day, Mark and Tina took some time to visit the Atlanta Aquarium downtown before they headed back to the airport to take their flight home.