Sinclair rises up in pro rankings

Colin Sinclair, seen here competing in Australia, made his fifth straight singles finals stint in the ITF Pro Circuit last week. (Contributed Photo)

Colin Sinclair’s surge to the ITF Pro Circuit rankings continued as he stretched his finals appearance streak to five.

The former CNMI junior player, as of Oct. 15, is ranked No. 569—jumping more than half from his previous rankings (No. 1, 267) at the end of the 2017 season.

Sinclair just finished playing in Australia F8 Futures in Toowoomba, Queensland, making it all the way to the title game of the hard court event. The 23-year-old won over Japan’s Kazuki Nishikawa, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-4); American Gage Brymer, 7-6 (9), 6-3; and Chinese-Tapei’s Kuan-Yi Lee, 6-1, 6-2, to advance to the semis. In the Final Four, he rallied past Japanese Hiroyasu Ehara, 2-6, 6-1, 6-3, to set up a finals duel against Australia’s Maverick Banes. The Aussie bet went on to end Sinclair’s run with a 6-4, 6-2 triumph in the title game.

The finals stint in Toowoomba was Sinclair’s fifth in a row in nearly three months of competing in Europe, Africa, and Oceania. His streak of finals appearances (singles) started in Belgium F9 Futures in Huy where he lost to Germany’s Jan Choinski in a three-set match, 6-3, 6-7, 3-6.

The former CNMI junior player then moved to Damme for the Belgium F10 Futures and won his first four matches before falling to Belgium’s Michael Geerts, 6-3, 6-3. From Belgium, Sinclair traveled to Monastir, Tunisia and competed in the Tunisia F31 Futures. He also prevailed in his first four matches before absorbing a heartbreaking 6-7 (5), 6-7 (4) loss to France’s Gabriel Petit in the finals.

Two weeks after competing in Tunisia, Sinclair went to Brisbane for the Australia F7 Futures held early this month. He defeated two Japanese and two Aussies to move into the finals where he was paired against Germany’s Evan Hoyt. The German foiled Sinclair’s title bid with a 6-4, 7-6 (5) victory in the finals.

After the tournament in Brisbane, Sinclair went to Toowoomba for another finals stint. Though he fell short in the championship game, he could gain more rankings points and move closer to the Top 500 once results of the Australia F8 Futures are officially included in the rankings.

“Colin Sinclair’s astounding run of final appearances continued. Colin, who was born on Sapan and had his early training here, will climb even higher when updated rankings are released next week,” Northern Mariana Islands Tennis Association official and CNMI National Team coach Jeff Race said.