El Tabakh coasts to title in Redding Challenger

Heidi El Tabakh, right, chats with Suzanne Cresswell, who owns
sponsor Cresswell Physical Therapy, on Sunday after winning
The Ascension Project Women's $25,000 Challenger in Redding,
Calif. Photo by Stephen Campbell

   Heidi El Tabakh is regaining her form after missing the first four months of this year.
   The Canadian, seeded eighth, overpowered Sherazad Reix, a Frenchwoman seeded fifth, 6-1, 6-3 Sunday to win The Ascension Project Women's $25,000 Challenger at Sun Oaks Tennis & Fitness in Redding, Calif.
   El Tabakh, who will turn 29 on Friday, earned her sixth career Challenger singles title but only her second since 2012. Reix, 26, was seeking the first of her career.
   In Saturday's doubles final, top-seeded Ashley Weinhold and Caitlin Whoriskey of the United States beat second-seeded Michelle Sammons of South Africa and Varatchaya Wongteanchai of Thailand 6-2, 7-5.
   Weinhold and Whoriskey also won the $50,000 Sacramento Challenger in July.