CHICAGO, September 9, 2018

The singles finals of the Oracle Challenger Series in Chicago are set. The WTA/ATP Challenger Tour combined event is held at the XS Tennis Village and has marked the first professional tournament in the Windy City since the 1990s.

Mona Barthel of Germany and Croatia’s No. 2 seed Petra Martic will compete in the final of the $125,000 WTA event. Due to a left knee injury US-American Sachia Vickery was forced to retire before her semi-final match on Saturday morning, giving Barthel a walk over victory into Sunday’s title match.  The 28-year-old Germany, who defeated Lin Zhu, Zarina Diyas and Dayana Yastremska en-route to the stage of the final four, is currently ranked World No. 111 and has 4 WTA titles to her name.

Barthel, along with doubles partner Kristyna Pliskova, took the women’s doubles title early Saturday afternoon. The pair defeated the US-American duo Asia Muhammad and Maria Sanchez 6-3, 6-2 in only 54 minutes.

Martic eased past Tatjana Maria of Germany 6-1, 6-2. The World No. 47 from Split outpointed her opponent 68-44 to advance in one hour and 13 minutes and is seeking her first title of the season.

Istomin to face Opelka

Denis Istomin will take on Reilly Opelka in the $150,000 ATP Challenger men’s tournament. Istomin, No. 2 seed in Chicago, beat Bjorn Fratangelo 6-1, 6-2 in one hour and 11 minutes. Opelka knocked off Germany’s Dominik Köpfer 6-3, 7-6(3), firing 13 aces during the one hour and 23 minutes encounter.

Luke Bambridge and Neal Skupski of Great Britain clinched another doubles title. The No. 2 seeded tandem beat the top seeds Leander Paes of India and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela from Mexico 6-3, 6-4. The final lasted 56 minutes.

✅ Vancouver 🏆
✅ Chicago 🏆

Make that eight straight wins for @Bambo290 & @nealskupski – doubles champions at the @OracleChallngrs. Did not drop a set all week. pic.twitter.com/s5U7ZYQkoR

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) 8. September 2018