There’s Excitement On All Levels Of Pro Tennis, As Proven By Madison Brengle and Kristina Liutova At Indian Harbour Beach, Florida

By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

Sure, it’s great watching Aryna Sabalenka play Coco Gauff and Casper Ruud duke it out with Jack Draper in a big-time WTA or ATP Masters 1000 final like we saw last weekend in Madrid. But there is drama, storylines and fascinating tennis to watch on all levels of pro tennis.

For example, you can even go down to the first round of qualifying at the $50,000 USTA Pro Circuit ITF World Tennis Tour women’s event in Indian Harbour Beach, Florida, the Revolution Technologies Pro Tennis Classic. This event is held at the Kiwi Club, just outside Melbourne, Florida, a lively and intimate place to watch tennis. This year’s tournament marked a return of pro tennis to the club, which for years hosted women’s challenger level events.

The only day I could come to the event was on the first day, which marked the first round of the two-round qualifying rounds. When I saw former Top 40 player Madison Brengle on the schedule to play at 9:30 am, I hustled to the courts early. She was the only player on the schedule who I had really heard of and I always admired her game and was entertained by her quirkiness. I remember watching her play a third-round match at the U.S. Open in 2015 on the old Grandstand court in a match I thought she was going to win, playing a qualifier from Estonia. That qualifier’s name was Anett Kontaveit, who would not only beat Brengle that day, but go on to the world No. 2 ranking.

I started noticing Brengle’s name in qualifying draws at recent USTA Pro Circuit events. At age 35, Brengle, with no ranking, is back playing pro tennis after a hiatus of almost two years and this was her third event back, earning a wild card entry into the qualifying tournament. I think it is great that a player who achieved the levels of tennis that she had – and at her age – still has the competitive desire to continue to play, even if it is just on Challenger or Futures level events.

When I arrived to the Kiwi Club from Vero Beach, Brengle’s first round qualifying match was already deep in the second set. It took a while to determine what was going on since the scoreboard on the court only had the colored round pegs with “Visitor” and “Home” and you weren’t actually 100 percent sure who was what at first. Brengle was playing a young girl named Kristina Liutova from either Russia or Belarus since there was no flag by her name in this Ukraine war era. I googled Liutova and saw that she was 15 years old, ranked No. 282 in the world junior rankings and No. 1,142 in the WTA singles rankings. And she was from Russia. A woman wearing a shirt that said “Gorin Tennis Academy” – who may have been Liutova’s mother – was speaking enthusiastically to the young girl in what sounded like Russian after almost every point. The teenager was struggling and frustrated and I soon learned Brengle was up 4-1 in the second set but had lost the first set.

As Brengle started her first service game after I sat down to watch, it was to my very pleasant surprise that she hit an underarm serve. She then hit another and then another. Brengle was known while a mainstay on the WTA Tour for having perhaps the weakest serve among women pros. This is due to a partial paralysis she has in her arm, as documented here https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/apr/09/madison-brengle-lawsuit-wta-itf-needles-doping-tests It’s a testament to Brengle’s game and tenacity that she was as successful as she was on tour with this liability. A compilation of her underarm serves that I filmed can be found here: Madison Brengle Underarm Serve Compilation – Indian Harbour Beach 2025

As an underarm serve connoisseur myself, and the author of an upcoming book on underarm serves, I immediately became even more invested in this match.  Brengle was playing great defensive tennis after her underarm serves – which almost always put her on the defensive off Liutova’s service return since there was no element of surprise to her underarm serve. She held serve to win the second set 6-2.

Liutova held serve to open the third set but then came six straight service breaks between the two players. With Brengle serving at 3-4 (still down a “hold” per se), more drama ensued as Liutova became sick at the back of the court as the match approached three hours in length. It wasn’t a “mass” vomit and the chair umpire, trainer and officials were unsure that she actually had gotten sick in the back of the court.

“You have to clean it up. That’s vile,” said Brengle to the chair umpire. The USTA trainer was then forced to clean up the small puddle on the back of the clay court. After a 10-minute or so pause for cleanup, Brengle then double-faulted, missing two underarm serves on the resumption of play. Brengle started to abandon her underarm slice serves and started to hit more of her overhand serves and also threw in topspin forehand serves, which started to win her more points. After several deuces, Brengle then finally held serve for the first time in the final set to draw even at 4-4. Liutova then stepped to the line and held serve for the first time since the opening game of the set, benefitting from a groundstroke that skidded off the baseline to win the game. Brengle had to then hold serve again to stay in the match. The chair umpire then cracked open a new can of balls as the ball rotation called for a fresh can. Normally, this would be to the advantage to the server to serve with new balls, that can fly easier through the air and the court. However, with Brengle’s weak overhand and underarm deliveries, it actually probably benefitted Liutova and her blistering returns.

And, so it did as Brengle was broken to lose the match. The final score, as seen on the ITF World Tennis Tour mobile app and not on any on-court scoreboard was Liutova winning 6-1, 2-6, 6-4. Brengle slowly walked to the net to congratulate Liutova, but held up her racquet to her and indicated that she was not going to shake hands. However, this didn’t have anything to do with the Ukrainian war as Ukrainian players do not shake hands with Russian or Belarussian players on tour for political reasons. Brengle was well aware that her opponent had just gotten sick and, not knowing the cause of the sickness, did not seemingly, want to be exposed to any potential germs, as she politely said her Liutova.

Stats from the match on the app showed that neither player served an ace and Brengle served four double faults, made 77 percent of her first serves and 84 percent of her second serves. Brengle played 14 break points, (Liutova played 21 break points!) and Brengle broke serve eight times, while Liutova broke serve 10 times.

And there you have it… continued excitement and drama in pro tennis, even if it is just from a first-round qualifying match at a women’s $50,000 event in Indian Harbour Beach, Florida.