McDonald tops Swedish teen for 25K L.A. title

Mackenzie McDonald, shown in the $100,000
Stockton (Calif.) Challenger last October, won
second career ITF singles title today. Photo by
Paul Bauman

   No. 5 seed Mackenzie McDonald, a San Francisco Bay Area product, dismantled No. 8 Carl Soderlund of Sweden 6-4, 6-0 today to win the USC/Los Angeles $25,000 Tennis Tournament.
   McDonald, a 21-year-old Berkeley native who grew up in Piedmont, rose 22 places in the world rankings to a career-high No. 301 with his second career ITF singles title. He won the $10,000 Irvine Futures in the Los Angeles area last September, then reached the semifinals of $100,000 Challengers in Tiburon and Stockton in Northern California the next two weeks.
   McDonald, only 5-foot-10 (1.78 meters) and 145 pounds (66 kilograms) turned pro last June after sweeping the NCAA singles and doubles titles as a UCLA junior. He became the first man to accomplish the feat since Matias Boeker of the University of Georgia in 2001.
   Soderlund, a 19-year-old freshman at two-time defending NCAA champion Virginia, was seeking his third ITF crown. He won $10,000 tournaments in Oslo, Norway, in 2015 and Karlskrona, Sweden, last year.