Futures: Week 19

Here’s a quick recap of the action last week:

*TURKEY F17: Ukranian No.2 seed Denys Molchanov took the title after beating unseeded Spaniard Carlos Calderon-Rodriguez 63 60 in the final. It was the first title of the year for Molchanov, who had reached the final at Turkey F5 in February. The 24 year old had to survive only one scare in the tournament, a tough SF 3-setter against young Egyptian Mohamed Safwat (’90). Other than Safwat, most of the younger players in the tournament failed to leave much of a mark. Claude Benz (‘92/SUI) reached R2, while Alexander Folie (‘90/BEL) reached the QF before losing to Calderon-Rodriguez.

*SPAIN F15: Portuguese Joao Sousa (’89) halted Spain’s wonder-kid Roberto Carballes-Baena (’93)’s 14 match winning streak to win the title, defeating him 63 60 in the final. Both made it to the final without dropping sets, but Sousa used his better momentum (he won Spain F14 last week while Carballes-Baena took the week off) to clinch the victory. Both of them are among the best in the Futures circuit so far this year, and Sousa is now on a 10-match winning streak of his own. Some of the usual suspects were in action, as Taro Daniel (’93/JAP) advanced to the QFs, defeating Spanish-Canadian Steven Diez (’91) along the way. ’91-born Roberto Ortega-Olmedo (ESP) and Loic Ducourau (FRA), both came from the qualys and made the QFs. ’94-born Spaniard David Perez-Sanz earned a point too, advancing to R2 before losing to the eventual champion.

*SWEDEN F2: Experience prevailed in the SFs as Timo Nieminen and Catalin Gard clashed for the title, with the Finn coming out on top 64 in the third set. Nieminen defeated Gianni Mina (‘92/FRA), while Gard got rid of Daniel Smethurst (‘90/GBR), both in straight sets. It was Nieminen’s first title of the season. R2 featured a clash of former junior superstars, as Julien Obry (‘91/FRA) defeated Daniel Berta (‘92/SWE), before losing to Gard in the next round. Berta can’t seem to find the way to win at the pro level, only managing to defeat a qualifier before losing to the talented Frenchman. Several young Swedish hopefuls clinched their first ATP points before being defeated by more experienced competitors. Among them were Jacob Johansson (’91), Isak Arvidsson (’92) and Denny Stajonevic (’93).

*MOROCCO F1: This was another case of experience prevailing over youth, as Spaniard Marc Fornell defeated Frenchman Tak Khunn Wang (’91) in straight sets. However, the pleasant surprise of the tournament was unranked Indian Ramkumar Ramanathan (’94) who came through the qualy and into the SFs before losing to Wang. The 16-year old, who had only played in one pro main draw before (earlier this year in Spain) took out No.2 seed Ivan Nedelko of Russia in R1. Moroccans Ismael Lahlou (’93) and Kamil Benmoussa (’94) earned their first ever ATP points with R1 wins.

*KAZAKHSTAN F3: Federico Gaio (‘92/ITA) seems to have found his groove at the pro level. He took his second consecutive title in Eastern Europe, this time defeating surprise finalist Ilia Starkov (‘90/RUS). The Italian extended his winning streak to 10 matches while only dropping one set during the whole tournament. Starkov, meanwhile, defeated fellow 90’-born Russian Mikhail Fufygin in the SFs to reach his first final of the year. Six out of the 8 quarter-finalists were Russian, including all 4 in the bottom part of the draw. Among them were ’92-born duo Alexander Rumyantsev and Mikhail Biryukov.

*VENEZUELA F3: David Souto is, without a doubt, the hottest player in the world right now in the Futures circuit. He won his third consecutive futures title in 3 weeks and is currently on a 15-match winning streak. The ’92-born Venezuelan starlet defeated the young, yet more experienced Argentine Patricio Heras (‘89/No.1 seed) in straight sets. Souto only had to work overtime in the SFs, when countryman Luis David Martinez took him to a third set. To reach the final, Souto had to eliminate some old foes of the junior ranks such as Duilio Beretta (‘92/PER) and Roberto Quiroz (’92/ECU). The surprise of the tournament was 2010 year-end ITF No.1 Juan Sebastian Gomez (’92/COL) who advanced all the way to the SFs before losing to Heras. The only other young-gun to make any noise was Venezuelan Ricardo Rodriguez (’93) who advanced to R2 and lost a tough 3-setter against Beretta.

*ITALY F9: 23-year old qualifier Antal Van der Dium (NED) won the title over No.1 seed James Lemke of Australia. The Dutchman did not face a seeded player until the final en route to taking his first title of the season. He only dropped one set and defeated young Japanese Hiroki Moriya (’90) in the SFs. The tournament featured the presence of local WC Gianluigi Quinzi (’96), projected to be a very dangerous player down the road. The young Italian took No.7 seed Alejandro Gonzalez (‘89/COL) to 3 sets. It was a very disappointing week for many of the high-profile youngsters of the tour as Filip Krajinovic (‘92/SRB), Daniel Evans (’90/GBR), Shuichi Sekiguchi (‘91/JPN) and Yasutaka Uchiyama (’92/JPN) were all eliminated in R1.  

*ARGENTINA F5: In a main draw that featured 32 Argentineans, Marco Trungelliti (’90) took the title over Diego Schwartzman (’92). Trungelliti sits at a career-high ranking of 352 and that will improve once these points are counted next week. Schwartzman is in the same situation, especially after reaching his second consecutive final in home soil. Schwartzman has been very successful this year, boasting a 21-10 record but has only won 1 out 8 finals in his pro career, a peculiar piece of information considering his talent and potential. Trungelliti and Schwartzman left behind the more experienced Juan Pablo Amado and Martin Alund (the previous week’s champion) in the semis. Most of the country’s best prospects were in attendance, but the youngest were the ones who took the headlines. ’93-born Mauricio Perez Motta advanced to R2, while Juan Ignacio Londero (also ’93) made it to the QFs. Moreover Leandro Portmann and Joaquin Amaya, a pair of ’94-born players, obtained their first ever ATP points.

*MEXICO F2: Daniel Garza took the title at home, defeating Australian Brendan Moore 63 16 62 in the final. Garza has won 14 out of his last 15 futures matches, only losing in the final at Mexico F1 due to injury. Three out of the 4 semi-finalists were Mexican, with Miguel Gallardo-Valles and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela completing the field. Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili (’92) displayed some of his potential, defeating No.1 seed Adam El Mihdawy before losing in the QFs. ’92-born Colombian Sebastian Lopez (’92) was the only relatively-heralded youngster in the draw who managed to advance to R2.

*BRAZIL F13: In the 14^th match against one another going back to 2000, Julio Silva defeated fellow Brazilian Thiago Alves to take the title. Silva still trails Alvez 6 to 8 in the head-to-head. The wily veterans defeated younger countrymen Marcelo Demoliner (’89) and Guilherme Clezar (’92) in the semis. Chilean Javier Munoz (’91) was the only non-Brazilian in the QFs. From Brazil’s next wave of prospects, both Karue Sell (’93) and Eduardo Dischinger (’92) notched R1 wins but were then eliminated. Once a prospect with a world of potential, 23-year old Nicolas Santos was also eliminated in R2.  

*BOSNIA F2: No.2 seed Serbian Miljan Zekic (’88) took the title over Bosnian qualifier Tomislav Brkic (’90) 76 62 in the final. It was Zekic’s 2^nd title of the season after Turkey F10, and he boasts a 16-3 record in Futures matches in 2011. The champion only dropped one set en route to the final. Brkic reached the final after defeating the more-heralded Damir Dzuhmur (’92), a fellow Bosnian, in the SFs. He also defeated last week’s chamption Toni Androic of Croatia along the way. Serbian Danilo Petrovic (’92) also had a very solid outing, reaching the QFs

*CHINA F5: 27-year old Ti Chen of Taiwan used his experienced to defeat Chinese youngster Chuhan Wang (’92) in the final and take the title. Twelve out of 16 players in R2 were Chinese, bust most of them were in the top part of the draw, as Chen defeated Japanese Junn Mitsuhashi (’89) in the bottom SF. Wang took out No.1 seed Ze Zhang (‘90/CHN). It wasn’t a very productive week for Chinese prospects, as Di Wu (’90) and Bowen Ouyang (’92) were eliminated early. Taiwanese Liang-Chi Huang (’92), a former ITF No.3 was eliminated in R1 again, although this time against the eventual runner-up.

*BULGARIA F2: Axel Michon (‘90/FRA) is making the most out of his Bulgarian experience, as he took his 2^nd consecutive title in said country. This time he defeated Austrian Michael Linzer to raise the trophy. Michon will now take his 10-match winning streak into the Roland Garros qualy, as he was granted a WC. Michon wasn’t tested until the final, where it took him 3 sets to finally get past Linzer, who had also required 3 sets to defeat No.1 seed Pole Marcin Gawron. ’90-born local WC Alexander Lazov made a surprise run to the QFs before losing to Linzer. Another fellow Bulgarian prospect, Dimitar Kuzmanov (’93) advanced to R2 before being eliminated by the once-promising Romanian Petru-Alexandru Luncanu (’89).

*USA F12: Unseeded American Blake Strode took the title over the more experienced countryman (and No.1 seed) Lester Cook 63 64 in the final. The 23-year old Strode benefited from an wide-open bottom half of the draw, but not before eliminated Gerald Melzer (’90/AUT), who was coming from a title last week in Mexico F1. Cook had to qualify into the main draw because of not signing up for the tournament, and a 3-set win over Denis Kudla (‘92/USA) probably burned him out. Kudla’s run to the semis included a victory over friend and fellow ’92-born American Andrea Collarini. Relatively-famed American prospects Ty Trombetta (’90) and Dennis Novikov (’93) advanced to R2, where they were eliminated.

*CZECH REPUBLIC F1: Current Jr. Australian Open champion and ITF No.1 Jiri Vesely (‘93/CZE) won his first every pro title, after defeating Slovakian Norbert Gombos (’90) 36 76 61 in the final. En route to the final, Vesely defeating Peter Torebko and No.1 seed Jurgen Zopp of Estonia. Gombos defeated fast-rising German Jan-Leonard Struff (’90), the No.2 seed to reach the final. Filip Horansky (’93/SVK), sitting at No.10 in the ITF ranking, had a strong run to the QFs before losing to the eventual champion. ITF No.8 Dominic Thiem (‘93/AUT) logged a R1 win before losing to fellow Austrian Marc Rath (’89).

*GREAT BRITAN F7: No.3 seeded Tunisian Malek Jaziri took the title over top-seeded Yannick Mertens of Belgium, 63 64 in the final. Jaziri only dropped a set in the SFs, where it took him extra effort to put away No.2 seed (and Italy F8 champion last week) Jonathan Dasnieres de Veigy of France. James Duckworth (’92/AUS) was the youngster of the week in the UK, as he reached the semis before losing to Mertens. The young local prospects had another poor showing, with Ashley Hewitt (’92), Toby Martin (’93) and Oliver Golding (’93) being the only ones advancing to R2, where they were all eliminated.  

Challengers: Week 19

Continuing with last week’s trend, this was another veteran-dominated week in the Challenger Tour. In what was the last full week of tournaments before the French Open gets underway, Europe offered two very competitive clay court tournaments (Zagreb and Bordeaux). Asia a tournament of their own, in Busan, which was played on hard courts.  Here’s a recap of the action:

*BORDEAUX, FRANCE (€85,000 +H): 34-year old veteran wild card Marc Gicquel showed he still has the thunder, defeating Argentine Horacio Zeballos, another veteran of the challenger tour, by a score of 62 64. Zeballos, however, used his strong showing to re-enter the top 100, clocking in at 97. This highly competitive tournament had the presence of 8 members of the top 100 and a bonus track appearance by former top-10 Chilean Fernando Gonzalez, who unfortunately had to retire in R1 due to injury. This was Gonzalez’s second retirement in the same amount of weeks, showing that he’s still not quite 100% fit after hip surgery. Gicquel took the long way to the final, winning 3-setters in R1, QF and SF, before cruising in the championship round. The locals dominated the field, as they had 6 players in the QFs and 3 in the SFs. The youngest players in the draw were a trio of ’89-born Frenchmen, but they failed to make any significant noise. Maxime Teixeira bowed out in R1 and the talented, yet irregular Benoit Paire lost in R2. The diminutive Jonathan Eysseric benefited from Gonzalez’s R1 retirement and then took experienced countryman Florent Serra to 3 sets before being eliminated. Eysseric has been showing flashes of his potential in the last weeks and it will be interesting to see if this can finally be his breakout season.

*ZAGREB, CROATIA ($50,000): Experienced challenger warrior Diego Junqueira of Argentina won his first tournament of the year (in his 3^rd final appearance) defeating fellow South American Joao Souza (’88) of Brazil, 63 64 in a final that was played on Monday because of poor weather. Both Junqueira and Souza had been among the steadiest players in the South American challengers since the beginning of the season, and that was apparent as they both crushed their European counterparts throughout the tournament. The win allowed Junqueira to jump to the brink of the top 100, as he now sits at 105. Both players are early favorites to advance through to Roland Garros’ main draw if their performance this year is taken into account. The field opened up when only one seeded player advanced to the QFs (Top-seeded Croatian Ivan Dodig). Junqueira did not drop a set all week and made the final after defeating young-gun Martin Klizan (‘89/SVK). Souza survived a 3-setter scare against Andrey Kuznetzov (‘91/RUS) in R2, but then cruised to the final, beating Italian Andrea Arnaboldi in the semis. 1988-born Croatian duo Kristijan Mesaros and Nikola Mektic had a solid week, making QF appearances. This tournament also featured former superstar Thomas Muster, who was gifted yet another wild card, and was handed another tough defeat, this time in the hands of Spaniard Guillermo Alcaide.

*BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA ($75,000 +H): Due to its location removed from Europe and the fact that the tournament was played on hard courts, it is very easy to understand why only 5 players in the top-200 were in attendance. The ranking cut was very low too, as Jamie Baker of Great Britain entered with a ranking of 388. However, because of the prize money, this tournament was very appealing to those who like to avoid the red dirt and those looking to improve their ranking going into the second half of the 2011 season. Dudi Sela of Israel won the title, defeating fast-rising Japanese Tastuma Ito (’88) in the final. The win catapulted Sela to the doorstep of the top 100, the place where really belongs when his talent is taken into account (he was ranked 29^th almost 2 year ago). On the other hand, it was Ito’s best performance ever, as he reached the final without dropping sets (including a very impressive victory of No.1 seed and 55^th in the world Yen-Hsun Lu of Taiwan), and gave Sela all he could handle before bowing out at 63 in the third set. Ito now sits at a career high ranking of 114. As mentioned before, due to the low cut, there were a number of younger players who not only managed to sneak into the draw, but also gain some significant points. Two of South Korea’s brightest prospects managed to advance to R2, as Yong-Kyu Lim (’91) and Suk-Young Jeon (’93) defeated more experienced rivals in the first round. Canadian Vasek Pospisil (’90) continued to have a very steady 2011, as he Miloslav Mecir and Danai Udomchoke before losing in the QFs. The win allowed him to rise to 239, a career high. Former junior star Greg Jones (’89) of Australia also advanced to the QFs

Futures: Week 18

Here is a quick recap of the action last week:

*ARGENTINA F4: 25-year old Argentine Martin Alund built on his SF apperance last and took the title over up and coming 92-born compatriot Diego Schwartzman 64 61. The more experienced Alund dropped only 2 sets en route the final. In the SFs, Alund managed to beat Facundo Arguello (’92), arguable the hottest name in Argentina’s new crop of players. Schwartzman advanced to the final after beating No. 2 seed veteran Juan Pablo Amado, but couldn’t replicate that showing against Alund. ’93-born Juan Ignacio Londero stopped a 6 match losing streak and advanced to R2 before losing to Arguello.

*BOSNIA F1: ’91-born Croatian Toni Androic prevailed over Czech Jiri Skoloudik to claim his first crown of the year with a 64 62 score. The 19-year old had to fight off a very pesky Tomislav Brkic (‘90/BOS) before winning the third set tiebreaker. It was almost a dream final for Croatians, as the more-heralded Dino Marcan (’91 and former ITF No.24) advanced to the SFs before being wiped out by Skoloudik. ’92-born Antonio Lupieri (CRO) and Victor Baluda (RUS) also had solid weeks, both advancing to the QFs.

                                                     CREDIT: ITF Tennis

*BRAZIL F12: 25-year old Brazilian Tiago Lopes left behind a 5-match losing streak and took the first title of the season in his third final attempt. He defeated Czech Republic’s Roman Vogeli and retirement, who has now lost consecutive finals in Brazilian territory, by a score of 75 31. The crowd didn’t get the chance to get a taste of the future of Brazilian tennis, as young guns Guilherme Clezar (’91) and Bruno Semenzato (’92) were both knocked out in the semis. ’94-born (current and ITF No.12) Thiago Moura Monteiro advanced to R2 before losing to the eventual champion. Moreover, ’91-born Chilean Javier Munoz managed a QF appearance.

*BULGARIA F1: Frenchman Alex Michon (’90) won his first future tournament of the year as he defeated local Tihomir Grozdanov 67 63 61 in the final. Michon will vault to a career high ranking at around No.400 when the points from this tournament are included. The Frenchman defeated Miljan Zekic of Serbia while Grozdanov took care of No.2 seed Adrian Cruciat in the other SF. Austrian Gibril Diarra (’90) earned his first ATP point.

*GREAT BRTIAN F6: Mathieu Rodrigues of France continued his very impressive 2011 campaign by taking the title in the UK, defeating Romanian Catalin Gard 60 64 in the final. Rodrigues dropped no sets en route to the final, while Gard had multiple 3 setters, including his SF match against No.1 seed Charles Brezac. ’93-born and ITF. No.4 Oliver Golding made a surprising run to the QFs before losing to Gard. Fellow Brit young-guns James Marsalek (’92), Lloyd Glasspool (’93, first ATP point) and Liam Broady (’94) all obtained 1 point thanks to R1 wins.

                                           CREDIT: Le Blog du TC Bressuire

*ITALY F8: No.1 seed Jonathan Dasnieres de Vegy took advantage of his experience to beat Colombian qualifier Cristian Rodriguez (’90) 63 61 to claim his first futures title of the year. Rodriguez, in turn, faced no seeded players en route to the finals, but discarded Japanese youngsters Shuichi Sekiguchi (’91) and Yasutaka Uchiyama (’92) in the QFs and R2 respectively. Rodriguez, who trains in Italy, had been having a very unsuccessful 2011, but managed his first main draw win in early April and now achieved his best showing ever. Italian Mateo Civarolo (’92), who last week obtained his first ever ATP point, advanced to the QFs, defeating the more heralded and higher ranked countryman Alessandro Colella (‘92/former ITF No.17) in R2.

*KAZAKHSTAN F2: In a very surprising final, ’92-born and former ITF star Federico Gaio (ITA) took the title over unseeded Japanese Takuto Niki (’87). Gaio built on a SF appearance the week before on his way to winning the silverware, but had to come back from a set down to eventually close it at 06 64 62. It was a very productive week for younger players, as Russians Stanislav Vovk (’91) and Alexander Rumyantsev (’92) advanced to the SFs, and fellow countryman Mikhail Biryukov (’92) to the QFs. ’93-born Denis Yevseyev (KAZ) and Leonard Stakhovsky (UKR) also advanced to the QFs. ’94-born local Alexey Nesterov earned his first ever ATP point.

                                                 CREDIT: www.livetennis.it

*SPAIN F14: In a battle of youngsters, Portugese No.1 seed Joao Sousa (’89) won the title defeating ’93-born Japanese (but who lives and trains in Spain) Taro Daniel 63 61 in the final. This tournament featured a very low ranking cut and 10 unranked players in the main draw. The beneficiaries were Brazilian Pedro Sakamoto (’93) and Spaniard Oriol Roca-Batalla (’93) who both achieved R1 wins.

*SWEDEN F1: 24-year old Ervin Eleskovic kept the silverware at home by defeating Canadian Erik Chvojka (’91) 76 61 in the final. Elekovic shocked No.1 seed French giant Josselyn Ouanna in the SFs, while Chvojka took care of German young-gun Kevin Krawietz (’92 and former ITF No.8). French up and coming stars Gianni Mina (’92) and Julien Obry (’91) managed to advance to the QFs before losing to the more experienced Ouanna. Former ITF year-end No.1 Daniel Berta (’92/SWE) lost in R1 to No.2 seed Timo Nieminen of Finland. Berta has struggled mightily since turning pro and is hoping that these tournaments at home will boost his ranking and confidence.

*TURKEY F16: In a class of 1990 battle, No.7 seed Riccardo Sinicropi (ITA) defeated No.5 seed Alexandre Folie (BEL) 62 57 64 in the final to take the title. Sinicropi, already sitting at a career high ranking of 620 will break into the top 600 when these points are entered into the system. The Italian beat Moldavian Andrei Ciumac, while Folie fought long and hard to defeat Czech Michal Schmid. ’92-born Swiss duo Claude Benz and Henri Laaksonen (former ITF No.20) both advanced to R2 before being eliminated.

*USA F11: Mexican futures veteran Daniel Garza advanced to his second consecutive final in American soil but had to retire at 1-1, allowing Gerald Melzer (’90) to take the title. Both finalists survived 3 setter semi-finals, but the No.5 seeded Austrian (def. Michael Ryderstedt) had a little more left in the tank than the Mexican No.6 seed (def. Robbyie Poole). It was a solid week for American tennis, as a few of their youngest players were able to obtain some points. ’93-born Dennis Novikov advanced to the QFs, as did ’92-born Daniel Kosakowski. Alexios Halebian (’94) and Ty Trombetta (’90) made it to R2, along with Spencer Newman (’93), who obtained his first ever ATP point. The Aussies made a little bit of noise too, as ’91-born giant Mark Verryth advanced to the QFs and 34-year old qualifier David McNamara (career high 431 in 2002) made it R2 before being embarrassed by the eventual champion.

*VENEZUELA F2: Another week, another title for rising Venezuelan star David Souto. In a battle of two of South America’s finest class of 1992 prospects, Souto defeated Peruvian Duilio Beretta 62 63 to earned his second consecutive crown in his home soil. Both players had rugged SFs, as it took them 3 sets each to beat Roberto Quiroz (‘92/ECU) and Denez Lukacs (‘87/HUN). It was a very good week for the young guns, as Mauricio Astorga (‘91/MEX) and Ricardo Rodriguez (‘93/VEN) both made the QFs. Rodriguez, who had been training and playing in Spain since the end of last year, took out No.2 seed Patricio Heras (’89/ARG) before being eliminated by Lukacs.

                                          CREDIT: www.noticiaaldia.com

Challengers: Week 18

Challengers Week 18:

Last week didn’t offer much variety as all 3 challenger tournaments happened to be played on red clay. As the French Open approaches this becomes the norm and even the token tournament in American soil adapted to the time of the year. It was an interesting week because every tournament was won by local, unseeded players.  Without any further ado, here’s a recap of the action.

*PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC (€85,000): In an extremely bizarre final, unseeded Czech Lucas Rosol took the title over American Alex Bogomolov Jr by a score of 76 52 and retirement. The champion had a very lucky week, as he was only able to advance to the final when former top-10 Chilean Fernando Gonzalez (in his second tournament back after hip surgery) also retired due to injury in the SFs. Rosol did win tough 3-setters against Rui Machado and Julien Benneteau (both in the top 100), helping his luck by displaying incredible fitness. Bogomolov Jr. not only played multiple 3-setters en route to the final, but was also playing on the heels of another final appearance last week across the Atlantic (he lost the final of the Sarasota CH to James Blake). This challenger had many of the up and coming stars of world tennis, but they all failed to make any significant noise. ’93-born junior superstars Jiri Vesely (CZE) and Tiago Fernandes (BRA), the last 2 winners of Jr. Australian Open both received WCs into the main draw but were quickly eliminated in R1. German qualifier Denis Bloemke shocked former ITF No.1s and Jr. Grand Slam champions Uladzimir Ignatik (‘90/BLR/Roland Garros 2007) and Grigor Dimitrov (‘91/BUL/Wimbledon and US Open 2008) and prevented what would have been a R2 match between them.

*SAVANNAH, USA ($50,000): As mentioned before, another unseeded local took the home crown as Wayne Odesnik continued to get back to his old ways after a long injury by defeating Donald Young in the final by a score of 64 64. En route to the final, Odesnik had to battle and defeat powerful servers such as Amer Delic and Australians Marinko Matosevic and Chris Guccione. He also took out American darling Ryan Harrison in the semis before advancing to defeat Young. Seven out the 8 players in the QFs were American, and the remaining one was Delic, who is from Bosnia but played for the US and was a former NCAA champion at the University of Illinois. Although the tournament was played on clay, the members of the draw were the usual crowd for American challengers, with guys such as Robert Kendrick, Michael Russell (lost to Young in the semis), Bobby Reynolds and last week’s champion James Blake in the main draw. The ’92-born Americans present had different fortunes, as Harrison reached the semis, Denis Kudla (def. Izak Van der Merwe) advanced to R2 and Andrea Collarini was eliminated in R1.

*ROME, ITALY (€30,000 +H): In a clash between unseeded, yet former top-100 players, Italian Simone Bolelli made sure that the title stayed at home by defeating Argentine Eduardo Schwank, 26 61 63 in the final. Bolelli took out No.2 seed Julian Reister and then had a clear path to the final, defeating Italian WC Simone Vagnozzi in the semis. Schwank didn’t have to face any seeds all tournament, but took out Dustin Brown and fellow Argentine (and former top-20) Jose Acasuso on his way to the final. Acasuso had stopped Dutchman Thomas Schoorel’s 11-match winning streak that included 2 challenger titles also in Italian soil. No.1 seed Tobias Kamke of Germany was the only seeded player to make it to the QFs, but that’s as far as he went after losing to former Jamaican Dustin Brown. The QFs also had an appearance by rising Spaniard Pablo Carreno-Busta (’91), who was eliminated by Vagnozzi.

Futures: Week 17

Here’s a quick recap of the futures action:

*ITALY F7: 27-year old Dutchman Matwe Middlekoop defeated Argentinean Juan Martin Aranguren in a tough 3-setter to take the title. The winner was coming off an irregular start to the 2011 season, but managed to play his best tennis of the year to fend off Aranguren, who played just his 3^rd tournament since early October of last year due to injury. Due to being a 15k tournament, the field was veteran-laden, and therefore with limited “young-gun” action. Young Italians Matteo Civarolo (’92) and Lorenzo Giustino (’91), along with Japanese Shuichi Sekiguchi advanced to R2 but were eliminated. Croatian No.2 seed Kristijan Mesaros (’88) advanced to the semis before losing to Aranguren.

*ARGENTINA F3: ’88-born Argentine Andres Molteni showed why he’s beyond the futures level by taking the title, dropping just 1 set throughout the tournament. He beat Italian Stefano Travaglia (’91) 64 64 in the final. Nicolas Pastor (’91) continued showing his good form by reaching the SFs, before losing to the eventual champion. Agustin Velotti managed to stop fellow ’92-born Facundo Arguello, but couldn’t get past veteran Martin Alund in the next round.

*BRAZIL F11: Spanish-Canadian Steven Diez bounced back from a R1 loss last week to win the title over Czech Romain Vogeli, 61 62 in the final. The ’91-born took out top seed Eladio Ribeiro Neto in the SFs, in the only match that required him 3 sets. Last week’s champ Nicolas Santos reached the SFs, showing he’s going through a sweet stretch. ’93-born Bruno Sant’Anna obtained yet another ATP point, but ’94-born (current and ITF No.12) Thiago Moura Monteiro couldn’t get past Chilean Javier Munoz.

*GREAT BRITAIN F5: In a battle of qualifiers, Italian veteran Enrico Burzi defeated youngster Arthur de Greef (‘92/BEL) 76 75 in the final. The 30-year old had not win at the futures level this year, so him taking the silverware was a true surprise. Most seeds went out early, with only Federico Torresi left in the SFs. British young guns James Marsalek (’92) and Liam Broady (’94/current ITF No.17) advanced, as did Japanese Hiroyasu Ehara (’91). However, it was a rather disappointing week as Kyle Edmund (’95/current ITF No.35), Oliver Golding (’93/current ITF No.4), Jack Carpenter (’92) and Daniel Smethurst (’90) all failed to obtain any points.

*INDIA F5: Vishnu Vardhan’s 14 match winning streak came to an end when he had to retire while leading 65 in the final, against Patrick Rosenholm of Sweden. The surprise champion came from the qualifiers, beat red-hot Korean veteran (and No.3 seed) Young-Jun Kim, benefited from a walkover in the QFs and took advantage of a few seeds losing early en route to his first ever futures title. This tournament featured youngsters Jeson Patrombon (‘93/Philippines/current ITF No.11) and Neeraj Elangovan (’95/India) achieving their first ever ATP points.  

*KAZAKHSTAN F1: Top seed Denis Matsukevitch took his third title of the season over fellow Russian Ervand Gasparyan, with a 61 62 rout. Born in ’86, Matsukevitch has a 24-9 record in 2011 and will jump to a career high ranking when these points are entered next week. Experienced prevailed as the pair of Russians took care of Federico Gaio (‘92/ITA) and Andrei Vasilievski (‘91/BLR) in the semis. ’93-born Ukranian Leonard Stakhovsky advanced to the QFs, while Russian hopefuls Richard Muzaev (’92) and Alexander Rumyantsev (’92 and No.3 seed) only made it to R2.

*SPAIN F13: ’93-born Roberto Carballes-Baena took his second title of the month by beating surprise finalist Jordi Samper-Montana in the final. Carballes-Baena is without any doubt the rising star of Spanish tennis, as he sits at ITF No.9 and already has 3 futures titles in less than a full year as a pro. Already sitting at a career high of 550, he will be in the top 500 come next week. Two other Class of ’93 Spanish stars made some noise too, as Oriol Roca-Batalla (ITF No.65) and Andres Artunedo-Martinavarr (ITF No.16) achieved QF appearances, in a tournament that only had one seed left at that stage.

*TURKEY F15: This tournament, which featured players from virtually half of Europe, was taken by Spanish (yet American college-trained) No.2 seed Arnau Brugues-Davi , who defeated German Stefan Seiffert in straight sets. Top-seeded Aussie Brydan Klein (’89) disappointed one more time with a R2 exit in the hands of Russian Dmitri Sitak. Last week’s champ Jozef Kovalik (‘92/SVK) advanced to the QFs before losing to Brugues-Davi.

*USA F10: ’92-born American Mitchell Frank made it all the way from the qualifiers to the final, before losing to the more experienced Mexican Daniel Garza in 3 sets. On his way to the final, Garza defeated Bjorn Fratangelo (’93/current ITF No.24) in the QFs and unranked South African Kriegler Brink in the SFs. In the other semi-final, Frank defeated Gabriel Moraru, a blast-from-the-past Romanian last seen in the tour in 2009. Moraru (’82), who achieved a career high of 234 in 2005, also advanced through the qualifiers. Among the American youngsters, ’92-born Daniel Kosakowski upset top seed Artem Sitak of New Zealand to reach the QFs. Also, ’93-born Austin Smith obtained his first ATP point by defeating Terence Nugent of Cote D’Ivoire in R2.

*VENEZUELA F1: Back at home after a stint in Spain, top-seeded David Souto showed his superior talent en route to taking the title, defeating Peruvian Mauricio Echazu (’89) in a tough third-set tiebreaker. Argentinean journeyman Gustavo Sterin played the best week of his career, advancing to the semis before losing to Echazu. Colombian Felipe Escobar (’94) will enter the ranking for the first time next week as he defeated countryman Christian Chavez in R1. It was a relatively good week for Colombian tennis as Nicolas Barrientos (’87) made the SFs and ’90-born Steffen Zornoza advanced to R2.  

Challengers: Week 17

This week was challenger-heavy in North America, as both the United States and Mexico held tournaments, in counter-intuitive surfaces (clay in the US, hard in Mexico). Europe also held its token clay tourney, as the race towards Roland Garros heats up and those who couldn’t make the main draw are trying to get into rhythm for the qualifiers.

*SARASOTA, USA($75,000): This tournament was marked by the presence of most challenger-ranked American veteran players. Bogomolov, Russell, Sweeting, Odesnik, and Witten were some of the names present, along with fellow international veterans Dancevic, Soeda, G.Lapentti, Dabul, Prodon and De Voest. However, it was the most experienced and talented of them all who ended up taking home the crown. James Blake, former No.4 in the world, swept Alex Bogomolov Jr. in the final with a 62 62 beating. He did it without dropping a set, and taking down top-seed Ryan Sweeting (’87) and 4^th seeded Donald Young along the way. Blake now sits at 109 in the world, and with one more favorable showing he should be able to make the main draw of Wimbledon without having to play the qualifiers. Bogomolov Jr. can still celebrate though, as the final appearance pushed him into the top 100, where he sits at 91, a career high for him. American youngster Ryan Harrison was the biggest disappointment of the tournament, as he lost to veteran Amer Delic in R1.

*OSTRAVA, CZECH REPUBLIC (€42,500): Unseeded French veteran Stephane Robert won the title defeating Hungarian qualifier Adam Kellner 61 63 in the final. ¾ of the semi-finalists were French, as Robert took down ’89-born Benoit Paire and Kellner defeated veteran 8-seed David Guez. With the SF showing, Paire entered the top 100 for the first time, checking in at No.99, which is obviously a career high. All in all it was a very solid week for French tennis, as fellow ’89-born Jonathan Eysseric (fresh off a futures title last week) advanced 2 rounds before losing to Guez. The tournament also had the presence of current ITF No.1 Jiri Vesely (CZE), who received a WC but lost to experienced German Alexander Flock. Moreover, in a matchup that will repeat itself often in a few years, former ITF No.1 Uladimir Ignatik took down No.2 seed Lukas Lacko of Slovakia 64 26 63. Ignatik went on to the QFs, eventually losing to Kellner.

 *LEON, MEXICO ($35,000 +H): American veteran Bobby Reynolds showed why he’s an expert at the challenger level by taking home a new title this week. He defeated German Andre Begemann (who played college tennis at Pepperdine University) 63 63 in the final. Reynolds was the only seeded player to advance to the SFs, where he beat the tournament’s surprise, Canadian Vasek Pospisil (’90). Thanks to the SF appearance, Pospisil moved up to 257 in the world, his career high ranking. In contrast with the American success this week, Mexico’s only players were the 4 WCs, with Manuel Sanchez (’91) advancing to R1 with a victory of countryman Fernando Larrea. Sanchez went on to lose to Rajeev Ram in R2.