By Tim Mastro

Madison Brengle ended her 2021 tennis season on a high note.

Brengle captured the women’s singles title at the Dow Tennis Classic in Midland, Michigan on Sunday, defeating fellow American Robin Anderson 6-2, 6-4. It was the second career WTA-level championship for the 31-year-old Dover native and her first since January 2020 in Newport Beach, California.

“To get a title like that, it feels really good and tells me that I’m playing well,” Brengle said in her post-match on-court interview.

Brengle moved up to No. 57 in the WTA rankings with the win — the highest she has been since August 2016.

She has been on a roll in the final calendar months of the tennis season, going 16-2 in her last 18 matches.

Brengle also won a single championship two weeks prior in an ITF-level event in Macon, Georgia. She was the tournament’s top seed and defeated Zarina Diyas in the final in three sets 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 on Oct. 24.

It was her first ITF singles title since August of 2019 and the 16th of her career.

Brengle was also the top seed in the WTA 125K event at the Dow Tennis Classic, hosted on indoor hard courts. She had won the tournament before in February 2018 when it was still an ITF-level event.

“I grew up playing indoor tennis so it really suits my game,” she said of the event. “It’s fast, it’s flat and that’s how I grew up playing. I really like these conditions.”

She had to rally several times on her path to the title.

She dropped her first set of the tournament to American Asia Muhammad 6-4 but rebounded to take the next two 6-2 and 6-1 to advance. She earned two-set victories in the next two rounds, knocking off American Sachia Victory 6-2, 6-0 before cruising against Australian Lizette Cabrera 6-0, 6-0.

Brengle’s semifinal match against American Danielle Lao was a nail-bitter however.

Lao won the first set 7-6 after a 7-3 tiebreak. Brengle then faced match-point in the second set but managed to force a marathon tiebreak which she won 10-8 to take the second set 7-6.

Brengle capitalized on the momentum with a 6-0 result in the third set to send her to the final where she swept Anderson.
“Anytime you can end the week with a trophy, it feels really, really good,” Brengle said. “I know I’m playing at that level that I can win. Hopefully next year I can go in with that confidence and that fight that I’ve had the whole week.”