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Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Futures: Week 24


Here’s a recap of the action:

*FRANCE F9: Former ITF No.1 Gianni Mina (‘92/FRA) obtained his first futures title of the year after defeating Serbian Miljan Zekic 76 64 in the final. It was an important breakthrough for the unseeded Frenchman, as he managed to beat experienced rivals en route to winning this 15k tournament. With the win, Mina will likely surpass his previous career high and be inside the top 480 players in the world. The former Junior French Open runner up (lost to Daniel Berta in 2009) defeated top seeded Jonathan Eysseric in 3 sets in the SFs, obtaining the confidence to defeat the streaking Serbian in the final. The 22-year old Zekic saw his draw open up round after round and entered the final without losing any sets. He’s having a career year, improving to 25-7 in 2011. He’ll also find himself at a new career high a week from now. The surprise of the tournament was German Sami Reinwein (’92), who took out the No.2 seed Laurent Rochette in R1 and made it t the QFs before losing to Zekic. Moreover, young Frenchman Maxime Chazal (’93) obtained his first ever ATP point with a R1 win over Adrien Puget.

*MOROCCO F4: 23-year old Italian Matteo Viola took home the crown of this 15k tournament over experienced Swiss Michael Lammer, defeating him 61 64 in the final. Viola, the top seed, was playing his first futures event of the year, after a subpar 3 months of early round challenger and ATP qualifier losses. The Italian only suffered complications in his R2 clash against experienced Spaniard Carles Poch-Gradin. However, after surviving the scare, he defeated ’93-born Spaniard Roberto Carballes-Baena (who at the time of the match had won 16 out of his last 17 futures matches) and 8th seeded Canadian Steven Diez (’91), both of them in straight sets. With the win, Viola reclaims his spot in the top 200. Lammer himself took out a pair of hyped youngsters, defeating Jozef Kovalik (’92/SVK) in the QFs and Gerald Melzer (‘90/AUT) in the semis. Among the less heralded prospects, Frenchman Florent Diep (’91) made it to the QFs from the qualy.

*NETHERLANDS F3: After taking a week off, Argentinean Pablo Galdon was back in business, defeating Chilean Jorge Aguilar in the final to take the most prestigious tournament of the week in the futures tour. Galdon, who had reached the final in the same country two weeks ago, survived an early scare in R2 against local Alban Meuffels (’92) before cruising for the rest of the tournament without losing another set. En route to the title, Galdon defeated local Antal Van der Duim, who reached the semis for the second week in a row. The 25-year old Argentinean’s ranking will now improve to a new career high, landing within short distance of the top 200. 4th seeded Aguilar had a very impressive run, advancing to the finals without dropping sets and eliminating German Bastian Knittel in the semis. 21-year old Blaz Rola (‘90/SLO) produced the upsets of the tournament, eliminating last week’s champion Inigo Cervantes in R1 and then 6th seeded Timo Nieminen in R2 before surrendering to the eventual runner up.

*ARGENTINA F8: Argentinean Facundo Arguello (’92), arguably one of the top 5 brightest prospects in the world, obtained his second futures title of the year after defeating fellow class of ’92 Duilio Beretta of Peru in the final. Arguello, a former ITF top 10, will enter the top 300 for the first time a week from now thanks to this victory. However, the title didn’t come easy, as he went the distance in his last 3 rounds, which included victories over Agustin Velotti (‘92/ARG) and Guido Pella (‘90/ARG). Beretta had a rocky path too, which included 3-set victories over Andrea Collarini (‘92/USA) in R2 and Martin Cuevas (’92/URU) in the QFs. He then defeated Renzo Olivo (‘92/ARG) in the semis before surrendering in 3 sets to Arguello. The draw was filled by the best prospects of the region, as was demonstrated by the fact that 6/8 players in the QFs were born in 1992, and only one player was born before 1990 (Brazilian Rodrigo Guidolim). Of the players born after ’92, Juan Ignacio Londero (’93) advanced to R2 before being eliminated by Guidolim. Moreover, 14-year old starlet Francisco Bahamonde was granted a WC and took out 5 games from Pella before being eliminated.

*CHILE F4: Local Cristobal Saavedra-Corvalan (’90) took the title after fellow Chilean Guillermo Rivera-Aranguiz (’89) retired before the end of the first set. It was the first title of the season for 2nd seeded Saavedra-Corvalan, whose ranking will improve to a career high a week from now. The champion had a breeze of a run until the semi-finals, where Argentinean Gaston Grimolizzi gave him all he could handle, before pulling out a 67 64 62 win. He benefited from Rivera-Aranguiz’s injury in the final, as the runner up had not lost a set all tournament. 20-year old Chilean Nicolas Kauer (’91) made a surprise appearance in the semis, losing to Rivera-Aranguiz in straight sets. Among other players who overachieved were Juan Sebastian Vivanco (‘90/ECU) and Javier Munoz (‘91/CHI), both of whom made surprise runs to the QFs. Also, ’93-born local Gonzalo Lama obtained his second ATP point with a R1 win over countryman Jorge Montero.

*GERMANY F6: 23-year old unseeded German Marc Sieber won his second title of the year, defeating countryman Peter Gojowczyk (’89), 64 in the third set. Sieber survived a scare from 8th seed Peter Torebko in R1 and benefitted from the fact that most seeded players were eliminated early in the tournament. In fact, Gojowczyk was the only seed to advance to the QFs. Sieber took out Dutchman Nick Van der Meer in the semis, while the runner-up took care of Yannick Vandenbulcke (‘90/BEL), the surprise of the tournament. Vandenbulcke, who had won only one match in 2011 previous to this tournament, advanced through the qualifying and defeated 2 of his country’s better-known prospects, Yannick Reuter (’91) and Alexandre Folie (’90) en route to the semi-finals.   

*ITALY F15: ’90-born Italian Alessandro Giannessi took the title at home after defeating Janez Semrajc (‘89/SLO) in the final. It was his second crown of the 2011, which is proving to be his breakthrough year. He is now 27-11 and with the win, Giannessi will jump into the top 350 in the world. Giannessi was almost eliminated by Polish Adam Chadaj in R1, but upon advancing he cruised through the rest of the tournament without losing a set. The tournament was marked by the early elimination of Italy’s top prospects Thomas Fabbiano (’89) and Matteo Trevisan (’89), the 1st and 3rd seeds in the tournament. Fabbiano went out in R1 and Trevisan was eliminated one round later. Instead, it was the much less heralded ’90-born duo of Enrico Fioravante and Claudio Fortuna (along with the champion obviously), both advancing to the QFs, who saved face for the Italian youngsters.

*JAPAN F7: In the only futures tournament of the week that was held in grass, the rapidly-improving Takuto Niki obtained the first title of his career, defeating the more experienced Hiroki Kondo in the final. It was a dream week for Niki, who breezed through the tournament without dropping a set. In the semi-finals, Niki defeated Shuichi Sekiguchi (‘91/JPN), a former ITF top 5 and one of the top prospects to come out of the island in the recent years. In the other semi-final, Kondo (also unseeded) defeated second-seeded Hiroki Moriya (‘90/JPN), a finalist the week before. The tournament, as per usual, was dominated by local players, even though 5/8 seeded players were foreigners. South Korean Daniel Yoo, the top seed, and Indonesian Christopher Rungkat (’90) were both eliminated in R2.

*SERBIA F2: 20-year old Frenchman Axel Michon won his third title of the season, defeating Bosnian starlet Damir Dzumhur (’92) in a thriller final, 76 46 75. Michon, arguably the best futures player of 2011 in the world besides Arnau Brugues-Davi, improved to 32-8 for the year and will be very close to cracking the top 300 when the new rankings come out. En route to the final, Michon eliminated a pair of 92-born prospects in Richard Muzaev (RUS) and Arthur de Greef (BEL). He also avenged his loss in the final of last week’s tournament, this time getting past Nikola Cacic of Serbia. The 19-year old Dzumhur (a former ITF No.3) is rising fast too, reaching yet another final. This impressive showing (coming from the qualy) will launch him into the top 600, a great feat considering the fact that this is his first full year as a pro. Bulgarian Dimitar Kuzmanov (’93) advanced to the QFs of a professional tournament for the first time in his short career, once again qualifying into the tournament. He defeated Serbian wonder-kid Miki Jankovic (’94) in R2. It was Jankovic’s second consecutive week earning ATP points, and this time he did in style, taking out No.2 seed Aldin Setkic in R1.

*SPAIN F21: Australian Benjamin Mitchell (’92) won his second futures title of the season after defeating Spaniard Roberto Ortega-Olmedo (’91) in the final, by a score of 63 61. Mitchell, one of 3 players born in 1992 to win tournaments this week (Gianni Mina and Facundo Arguello being the others), is a key member of the next wave of tennis players coming out of Australia. He improved to 18-7 for the year and will crack the top 400 for the first time in his career. He benefited from a Michael Ryderstedt walk over in the semis, but had to fight hard to get past countryman Michael Look in the QFs. On the other hand, Ortega-Olmedo reached his first ever pro final, eliminating David Souto (‘92/VEN) and Rudy Coco along the way. 16-year old Ramkumar Ramanathan of India kept adding valuable points to his ranking, this time advancing to the QFs before being eliminated by the eventual runner-up. With this performance, Ramanathan will crack the top 1000 for the first time.

*USA 15: 23-year old Jesse Levine (a former top 100 player) took his first futures title of the season after defeating unranked qualifier Jeff Dadamo (’89) 64 64 in the final. The top-seeded Levine, trying to get back to his top form, cruised through the tournament without dropping a set thanks to a combination of superior skill and a very weak draw. The runner-up, however, had to fight through multiple 3-setters to reach his first pro final ever. The recent Texas A&M graduate defeated ’90-born American Ty Trombetta in the semis. One of the surprises of the tournament was an appearance by Australian John-Patrick Smith. The 22-year old was an ITF No.6 in 2008 and had been playing college tennis at the University of Tennessee. He defeated No.2 seed Dayne Kelly and experienced Romanian Gabriel Moraru before being eliminated in the QFs by Trombetta.

*VENEZUELA F5: Venezuelan Roman Recarte put together a very impressive week en route to winning his first title of the year. He defeated streaking Argentinean Guido Andreozzi (’91) in the final, 63 16 61. Recarte avenged a loss to Australian John Peers the week before and took out No.1 seed Eduardo Struvay (‘90/COL) throughout the tournament. Despite the loss, the ever improving Andreozzi is now 25-13 in 2011 and will sit at a career high ranking inside the top 450 a week from now. It was positive week for Venezuelan players, as Roberto Maytin (’89) reached the quarter-finals and Jesus Bandres (’91) advanced to his second consecutive SF, before being eliminated by the eventual champion.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Futures: Week 23

Here’ s a recap of the week’s action:

*CHINA F8: South Korean youngster Yong-Kyu Lim (’91) took his first title in four tries this season after defeating top seed Mao-Xin Gong of China 67 64 61 in the final. Lim had lost his previous three finals of 2011 but prevailed this time and earned the valuable points granted by this 15k tournament. En route to the final, Lim was taken the distance only once, against Chinese Di Wu (’91) in the QFs. He also overcame Taiwanese prospect Liang-Chi Huang (’91) and the experienced Woong-Sun Jun to set up his clash against Gong, who had not lost a set before the final. Gong defeated Kittiphong Wachiramanowong (‘90/THA) in the semis.

*FRANCE F8: Experienced Argentine Martin Alund earned his way back into the top 300 in the rankings after his impressive win at this 15k +H tournament. He took the title after a 3 set battle against fellow veteran Nicolas Renavand, prevailing 63 in the third. Alund cruised through the early rounds before facing unexpected resistance in his semi-finals match against Mathias Bourgue (‘94/FRA). This French wonder-kid was No.1 in under-16s in Europe last year and backed up the hype with an impressive performance that included a win over Gianni Mina (‘92/FRA) and taking the eventual champion to 3 sets. This mini-streak will spring Bourgue into the top 1000 in the ranking, an important feat for any 17-year old. Virtually all the famed French prospects were in attendance, with Julien Obry (’91) advancing to the QFs before being taken down by the eventual champion. Moreover, Pierre-Hughes Herbert (’92) advanced to R2 before losing to Mina.

*ITALY F14: Austrian big man Philip Oswald was the surprise champion after defeating No.2 seed and favorite Gerard Granollers-Pujol (‘89/ESP) in straight sets in the final. Oswald halted Granollers-Pujol’s 9-match winning streak, and won the title without dropping a set all week. The Spaniard, having the best season of his young career now boasts a 33-11 record and will appear at a new career high in the next ranking. As for the younger prospects, Patrick Brydolf (‘91/SWE), Alessandro Giannessi (‘90/ITA) and Laurynas Grigelis (‘91/LTU) advanced to the QFs before being eliminated by higher-seeded players.

*NETHERLANDS F2: 21-year old Spaniard Inigo Cervantes took the crown of this 15k tournament after defeating last week’s champion Maxime Authom of Belgium in the final. In a battle of unseeded players, Cervantes prevailed in 3 sets, the only match in which he went the distance all week. Along the way, Cervantes defeated young Russian Victor Baluda (’92) in the QFs and benefited by the retirement of Aussie Brydan Klein (’89) in the semis. Authom defeated local Antal Van der Dium to reach the final and improve his 2011 record to 24-7. A special mention goes out to Ben Wagland, the ’93-born Aussie giant who advanced to the QFs thanks to an impressive straight sets win over top seeded Timo Nieminen.

*SPAIN F20: There are few adjectives left to describe Arnau Brugues-Davi’s run in the futures circuit this year. This week he took his 8th title, this time defeating up and coming fellow Spaniard Andres Artunedo Martinavarr in straight sets. The third-seeded Spaniard improved his 2011 record to 41-5, with only one of those loses coming at the futures level. The champion only faced resistance in the semis, where he had to fight a 3 set battle against Australian (and former US college player at UCLA) Michael Look. The ’93-born Artunedo Martinavarr, for his part, reached his first pro final and continues his ascending career that features the doubles crown at the Junior French Open last month. En route to the final, he defeated the No.2 seed Steven Diez (‘91/CAN) and Russian Ilya Belyaev (’90). A fellow ’93-born Spaniard, Ricardo Ojeda Lara advanced to the QFs before losing to Brugues-Davi 60 60. The disappointing performance of the tournament was handed by David Souto (’92). The young Venezuelan starlet had won three consecutive futures at home coming into this tournament, but was eliminated in R1 against Look.

*USA F14: Top seeded Canadian Philip Bester took down American Blake Strode in a straight sets final to earn the title. With the win, this promising player who had a breakthrough 2010 season will set a new career high next week and will sit at the doorstep of the top 200. Bester, a former ITF top 10 had to battle through 3 tough sets in the SFs against Devin Britton (’91/USA), himself a successful junior who once reached the final of the Junior US Open. Strode, the runner up, also had a tough outing in the semis, having to go the distance to defeat last week’s champion Daniel Kosakowski (‘92/USA). Kosakowski, who just finished his freshman season at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), had defeated No.2 seed Greg Ouellette and former top 100 Jimmy Wang (TPE) prior to his matchup against Strode.

*ARGENTINA F7: Top seeded Argentinean Juan Pablo Amado took his first title of the season after defeating up and comer countryman Diego Schwartzman (’92), 46 64 64 in the final. The 25 year old Amado, a veteran of the futures circuit, had been having a subpar year for his standards, but avenged 2 previous losses to Schwartzman this year to lift the trophy. Schwartzman, who already has 75 wins in his short career, lost his 8th final in 9 tries. This can be seen 2 ways, as it is incredible that he’s reached so many finals at such a young age, but also, it is alarming that he can’t seem to close them out, even against rivals that he’s repeatedly beat in recent months. Regardless, the young Argentine will improve to a career high ranking and will be very close to cracking the top 300. To reach the final, Schwartzman went through Andrea Collarini (‘92/USA), last week’s champion Kevin Konfederak (‘91/ARG) and Brazilian Guilherme Clezar (’92). Peruvian Duilio Beretta (’92) made the QFs before losing to Clezar.   

*GERMANY F5: 30-year old unseeded local Holger Fischer was the surprise champion, defeating a player 10 years younger than him, Australian Matt Reid. It was the second title this season for Fischer, who earlier this year reached a career high ranking of 486 that he is sure to surpass when the points from this tournament enter the rankings. Fischer struggled in the early rounds, gutting out consecutive 3-setters before defeating fast-rising compatriot Kevin Krawietz (’92) in straight sets. In the SFs, Fischer had to dig deep once again, as qualifier German Florian Fallert, the surprise of the tournament, took him to another third set before surrendering 75 36 63. Reid, on the other hand, had a much smoother way to the final, being only taken to 3 sets in the QFs against Denis Bloemke, and benefitting from a walk over by Chilean Hans Podlipnik in the semis. However, the Aussie, who’s a former ITF Top 20 but is having an irregular year so far, proved no match to Fischer, who defeated him 62 61. Other than Fallert’s Cinderella run, young Russian Alexey Vatutin (’92) made an unlikely run to the QFs, winning two straight 3-setters before being swept by Podlipnik.

*JAPAN F6: In a battle of Japanese little guys, Jun Mitsuhashi (’89) took the title over top-seeded Hiroki Moriya (’90), 64 60 in the final. The winner took revenge from last week, taking out fellow Japanese youngster Hiroyasu Ehara (who beat him in the final the previous week) in R1. It certainly wasn’t a pleasant ride for the 5th seeded Mitsuhashi, who had to endure consecutive 3-setters in R2 and the QFs, before dismissing Bumpei Sato and Moriya in the final two rounds. Just like the previous week, the tournament was dominated by local players, with Taiwanese Hsin-Han Lee being once again the only foreigner in the QFs. Among the remaining young prospects, Shuichi Sekiguchi managed to advance to the QFs, before losing to Moriya. The surprise of the tournament was the early elimination of Indonesian sensation Christopher Rungkat (’90), who had taken 3 straight futures titles at home and therefore came into this tournament on a 15-match winning streak. He lost to Bumpei Sato in R1.

*MEXICO F7: 26 year old Uruguayan Marcel Felder won his third futures title of the year, defeating Artem Sitak of New Zealand in 3 sets in the final. Felder, once a very promising prospect (ITF No.4 in 2002), is having a very impressive run in the Mexican futures, including a title in Mexico F4 and a final appearance in Mexico F6. He improved his 2011 record to a very respectable 27-8 and will return to the top 400 next week. On his way to the final, Felder avenged his loss to Roman Borvanov in last week’s final. Sitak made the final after defeating local Daniel Garza, the third seed who has also been very successful playing at home. The surprise of the tournament was Salvadorian Marcelo Arevalo (’91), who advanced to the QFs before issuing a walk over. On the other hand, ’91-born Mexican Manuel Sanchez had a very disappointing showing, losing to Ruben Gonzalez in R1. Sanchez’s 2011 record now stands at 14-14.

*SERBIA F1: In a battle of ’90-born youngsters, the less heralded Nicola Cacic (SRB) defeated top-seed Axel Michon (FRA) 63 60 in the final. It was the first title of the season for Cacic, who had reached a final in Israel earlier in the year. Cacic had a relatively easy run to the final, with the exception of the 3-set thriller he pulled out against Roman Jebavy (‘89/CZE) in the QFs. Michon, who is sitting at a career high that he’s guaranteed to improve with this showing, only dropped a set in his R1 match against Spaniard Jordi Samper-Montana. Michon is now 27-8 in 2011, a very solid performance for the young Frenchman. ’89-born Andraz Bedene (SLO) reached the SFs from the qualy before issuing a walk over before his match against Michon. Irregular Belgian young-gun Arthur De Greef (’92) advanced to the QFs before losing to Goran Tosic. Fellow ’92-born starlets Damir Dzuhmur (BIH) and Jack Carpenter (GBR) also advanced to R2, along with Serbian Miki Jankovic (’94), who obtained his first ever ATP point.

*VENEZUELA F4: Top seeded Colombian Eduardo Struvay (’90) took the title over unranked Australian John Peers, the surprise of the tournament. Struvay had to shed blood, sweat and tears to defeat his rival 76 (12-10) in the third set tie-breaker. Peers, who seemingly came out of nowhere, had been playing college tennis in the United States, more specifically at Baylor University in Texas. Peers had not played in a professional main draw since 2007, when he obtained his first ever ATP point in his native Australia. In his dream run to the final, Peers didn’t drop a set and defeated Venezuelan Ricardo Rodriguez (’93) and Argentinean Guido Andreozzi (’91), who had won the title at Brazil F17 the previous week. Struvay survived a 3-setter in the QFs, before defeating another surprise semi-finalist, Venezuelan Jesus Bandres (’91). Finally, a pair of ’94-born Colombians obtained some valuable points, with Felipe Escobar reaching R2 and Felipe Mantilla the QFs.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Under-16 European Tour: Torneo Dell'Avenire

Unseeded Spaniard Albert Alcaraz-Ivorra took home the title at this prestigious Category 1 event. He swept Croatian Borna Coric (No.8 seed) 60 61 in the final. Alcaraz-Ivorra had to go the extra mile in the quarter finals, laboring to defeat last week's chamption Thai-Son Kwiatkowski from the United States. The score was 67 75 60, and that gave him the momentum to win his last 2 matches in straight sets. Coric, for his part, had a very tough SF outing, managing to eliminate highly touted Italian Filippo Baldi with a score of 57 64 62. However, he literally left his all in the semis, as he was completely crushed in the final by Alcaraz-Ivorra.

Spain continues with their tradition of raising bright prospects, and it looks like Alcaraz-Ivorra could follow the footstepts of Carlos Boluda, Pablo Carreno-Busta, Roberto Carballes and Javier Marti among others.

The tour now continues with the Category 2 tournament "Citta' di Crema. However, many of the top prospects will be skipping it due to it being a lower category tournament.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Futures: Week 22

There are a lot of interesting wrinkles and plots in this week of intense tennis action. So here’s a recap of the most interesting events:

*CHINA F7: Local player Ze Zhang won his second title in a month’s time after defeating South Korean Jae-Sung An 64 62 in the final. The 1990 born Chinese survived a scare in the quarter finals against Dylan Kim, before cruising in straight sets in the last two rounds. Zhang, who’s 22-8 for the year, earned valuable points in his quest to return to the top 300, and it didn’t hurt that the tournament was a 15k. The unseeded An, the finalist, fought through 4 three-setters before running out of gas and surrendering in the final. There was limited success for the young guns as Di Wu (‘91/CHN) was the only prospect to advance to the QF. He was eliminated by An.

*IRAN F2: Second week of futures in this middle-eastern country, yet same finalists. Same champion too, it turns out. Italian Matteo Marrai, the No.1 seed, once again defeated Russian Ivan Nedelko to take his second consecutive crown and extend his winning streak to 10 matches. The 24 year-old Italian cruised through the tournament, winning every match in straight sets and never losing more than 5 games in any of them. Nedelko survived a few scares in the preliminary rounds before defeating No.2 seed giant Kamil Capkovic of Slovakia in the semis. Due to being a 15k tournament, the presence of younger players was limited, with the exception of Daniel Berta (’92), the underachieving Swede. The former ITF No.1 and French Open winner, wasted another golden opportunity to embellish his ranking, losing in R2 to unknown local Shahin Khaledan, who entered the week with a single ATP point.

*ITALY F13: This tournament was very exciting due to having many of the best young prospects in the world and a few wily veterans of the futures tour. Throw in the fact that it was a 15k and that the No.1 seed went out in R1 and you have the perfect recipe for entertainment. Matteo Trevisan (’89), the highly touted Italian prospect came up with the victory, defeating countryman Gianluca Naso, a much heralded player once too. Trevisan was favored by the retirement of Frenchman Laurent Rochette in R1, and then recovered from a 0-6 first set against Alessandro Gianessi (‘90/ITA) en route to the final. Naso, the No.2 seed and the favorite in the final, had a much rougher week and it’s possible that he had little left for the final. Filip Krajinovic, the uber talented Serbian young gun who was poised for a run to the top 100, was eliminated in R1, thus making it the third time in 4 weeks that he loses in his first match. Swedish Christian Lindell (’91), a finalist the week before, was eliminated in R1 too, along with ’92-born Italian prospects Alessandro Colella and Matteo Civarolo, and former ITF No.1 Tsung-Hua Yang (’91) of Taiwan.  

*NETHERLANDS F1: 24 year old Belgian Maxime Authom was the surprise winner of this 15k futures tournament, after he got past Argentinean Pablo Galdon, 62 62 in the final. The unseeded champion took the No.1 seed (Gregoire Burquier) and only lost a set, in the semis against fellow Belgian Yannick Mertens. Galdon eliminated two Belgians but couldn’t defeat a third one in Authom. To reach the final, Galdon won his SF clash against No.2 seed Fernando Romboli (‘89/BRA), a former ITF No.3 a few years back.  Because of the number of experienced players in the field, most of the younger prospects failed to produce any significant results. However, Pierre-Hughes Herbert (’92/FRA), Arthur De Greef (‘92/BEL) and Sean Berman (’93/USA/former Jr. Australian Open finalist) advanced to R2 before being eliminated.

*POLAND F4: Australian youngster James Duckworth (’92) continued his domination of the Polish futures tournaments by clinching his second crown, this time beating German Peter Torebko in a tough 3-set final.  Duckworth has now won 14 of his last 15 matches and carries a 22-7 record in 2011. The Australian has proven to be a warrior, going the distance multiple times, including his win over top seed Pavol Cervenak of Slovakia. Torebko, for his part, took out last week’s champion Marcin Gawron (’88), the local favorite, en route to the final.

*USA F13: Although full of players unknown in the rest of the world, the field of this tournament was very familiar to fans of American college tennis, especially those in California. Daniel Kosakowski (’92), one of the up and coming starts from the US defeated Steve Johnson, his compatriot and college archrival. Kosakowski attends UCLA (University of California at Los Angeles) while Johnson, the top ranked player in American college tennis, played for cross-town foe USC (University of Southern California). Neither was much-heralded in the juniors, but both found their niche in college tennis, and their development obviously hasn’t taken a hit. Kosakowski took out another former college player, Antoine Benneteau of France, in the semis, while Johnson defeated former top 100 Jimmy Wang of Taiwan. American prospects Dane Webb (’92) and Devin Britton (’91) advanced to R2 before being eliminated, while fellow countrymen Ty Trombetta (’90) and Sekou Bangoura (’91) and Christian Harrison (’94) were all taken out in R1.

*ARGENTINA F6: ’91-born Kevin Konfederak obtained his first pro title after defeating fellow Argentinean Guillermo Duran (’88) in the final. The unseeded champion was a former ITF top 20 in 2009, and his talent prevailed over the experience of his rival. This was a tournament where the favorites lost early. The top 2 seeds, Juan Pablo Amado and Diego Schwartzman (’92/ARG), were eliminated in the QFs, opening up the field for the finalists, both of whom had never won a title before. Two of Argentina’s class of ’94 prospects, Mateo Martinez and Juan Cruz Estevarena were part of the field, but couldn’t do much against the top 2 seeds in R1. Peruvian Sergio Galdos (’90) was the surprise of the tournament, advancing to the QFs in a tournament usually dominated by local players.

*BRAZIL F17: Yet another ’91 born Argentinean had a successful week in the tour: Guido Andreozzi won his first title of the season, defeating Brazilian Tiago Lopes in a 3-set final. Andreozzi, once a very highly rated junior who later stopped playing tennis for a year, put his talent in display, dispatching the top seed Eladio Ribeiro Neto in the semis. Lopes survived a 3-set thriller in the QFs against Juan Vazquez Valenzuela, a ’91-born highly-touted Argentinean who came back from retirement. Brazilians made up most of the field, but Eduardo Dischinger (’92) was the only young gun to make any noise, downing the No.2 seed Danilo Ferraz before losing in the QFs. Pedro Sakamoto (’93/BRA), who earned his first ATP point in Spain a few weeks back, earned another point with a R1 win over qualifier Ivan Garcia-Castro.

*INDIA F8: Another young-gun shone at home as Karunday Singh (’90) won the title over fellow Indian Vijayant Malik (’90), 64 62 in the final. Singh had a complicated path to the final, including multiple 3-setters and a clash against the top seed and India’s best prospect in a decade, the diminutive Yuki Bhambri (’92), who retired when he was down a set in the QFs. Bhambri has had a very disappointing pro career, as he hasn’t been able to get out of the futures and into the challengers. On the other hand, Malik had to go through Swedish Patrick Rosenholm (’88), last week’s winner and very successful in Indian territory. 15-year old Ronit Singh Bishit (’96) qualified into the main draw but lost to ’93-born Mohit Mayur Jayaprakash (IND), who earned his first ATP point.

*INDONESIA F3: One can’t help but feel that all players not named Christopher Runkgat play only for second place at the Indonesian futures. The ’90-born local hope won his 3rd consecutive tournament, this time defeating a different Japanese, Kento Takeuchi, in the final. He now boasts a 15-match winning streak. Runkgat, a former ITF top 20 in 2009, was only forced to work a little extra by another heralded Asian prospect, Liang-Chi Huang (‘91/TPE) in the SFs. However, not even Huang could take him to a third set. The tiny Indonesian will now crack the top 500 for the first time in his career. Takeuchi, for his part, benefited from the early elimination of No.2 seeded giant Australian Mark Verryth and of German Richard Becker, a finalist 2 weeks ago. The surprises of the tournament were Nuttanon Kadchapanan (‘93/THA) and Kelsey Stevenson (‘90/CAN) who used a few lucky breaks to advance to the QFs.

*JAPAN F5: On a week dominated by the young-guns, local Hiroyasu Ehara (‘91/JAP) decided he wasn’t going to be the exception. He defeated ’89-born fellow Japanese Jun Mitsuhashi, 76 36 76 in a closely contested final. The champion, who will rise to a career high ranking next week, had to work overtime in his last 4 matches, only cruising in straight sets in the opening round. The other two big-named prospects coming of Japan, Shuichi Sekiguchi (’91) and Yasutaka Uchiyama (’92) had acceptable showings, losing in R2 and the SFs respectively. Hsin-Han Lee of Taiwan was the only non-Japanese in the QFs. The former ITF No.9 was eliminated by the eventual champion.

*MEXICO F6: Starting with Mexico F3, Moldavian Roman Borvanov had managed to win one more match than the previous week in every tournament. That’s why, after losing in the final last week, it made sense that he took it one step further and clinched the title. He defeated Uruguayan Marcel Felder in a tough 3-set final. Borvanov survived a scare in R1, and then had to defeat local Daniel Garza in the semis, a tough task considering Garza’s impressive play at home. Felder, on the other hand, took care of young Salvadorian giant Marcelo Arevalo in the semis. Arevalo, who plays college tennis in the United States, is a former ITF top 10. Unranked Mexican Daniel Fernandez (’92) pulled a pair of upsets to make it to the QFs, where he joined countryman Manuel Sanchez (’91). Both were eliminated in that round.

*ROMANIA F3: Top seed Gerard Granollers-Pujol continued his excellent performance in 2011 by taking another futures title, his third one this year. He defeated Petru-Alexandru Luncanu (’89) in the final by a score of 64 64. Granollers-Pujol seems to be following in the footsteps of his brother Marcel, and looks set to upgrade to the challenger tour. Luncanu, a former ITF No.3 in 2008, is having a very productive season took, improving his overall record to 21-8 after reaching his second final in three weeks. He is a player to keep an eye on, as this could be the beginning of him fulfilling his extensive potential. Beyond Luncanu, the rest of Romania’s young prospects were present, and showed moderate success. ’90-born Robert Coman advanced to the SFs, before losing to Luncanu. ’93-born Teodor Nicolae Marin made it to the QFs, while fellow unranked Stefan Vinti (’94) obtained his first ever ATP point.

I WOULD MUCH APPRECIATE ANY TYPE OF FEEDBACK AS LONG AS IT IS CONSTRUCTIVE. IF YOU FIND ANY MISTAKES WHATSOEVER LET ME KNOW AND THEY WILL BE CORRECTED. THANKS FOR READING!

Monday, June 6, 2011

Juniors: Roland Garros’ shocking winner and its effect on the future of American tennis


THE CHAMPION

The 2011 edition of the junior French Open came to an end this Sunday with a shocking name hoisting up the trophy: American Bjorn Fratangelo. The ’93 born Pittsburgh native, who had only played four matches in clay all year prior to RG, defeated the more heralded and clay-court specialist Dominic Thiem (’93) of Austria by a score of 36 63 86 in the final. Fratangelo, named after tennis legend Bjorn Borg, overcame his rival’s higher ranking (ITF No.13), familiarity with the surface and overall big-tournament experience to become the “King of Clay”

Fratangelo was relatively successful at the beginning of the season, playing several tournaments in hard courts that allowed him to be ITF No.21 entering the French Open. His only preparatory tournament was the prestigious Trofeo Bonfiglio, held two weeks before Paris. There, he surprised more than a few people by reaching the QFs without dropping a set, before losing to Slovakian Filip Horansky, the eventual champion. However, going into the French, it was enough to look at his passport to dismiss his chances of making any type of a serious run, especially with all of the brightest prospects of the world in attendance.

He had a shaky first round, in which it took him 3 sets to dismiss Moldavian Maxim Dubarenko, one of the weakest players in the field. He backed up the win with a straight sets rout of Filip Peliwo, a ’94-born Canadian to set up a clash with Belgian Joris De Loore, the 11th seed and a finalist at the prestigious Astrid Bowl the previous week. He won two tough tie-breakers to put away the Belgian and set up another meeting with much-heralded Brit Oliver Golding, whom he had crushed 62 60 in Italy two weeks prior.

His match against Golding was much like the previous one, as Fratangelo only lost a game in each set before closing out the Brit 61 61. He now had to face French WC Tristan Lamasine, who had upset No.2 seed Hugo Dellien of Bolivia in R1. It is worth mentioning that the bottom half of the draw became very week with the early eliminations of favorites Tiago Fernandez and Thiago Moura Monteiro (both from Brazil), as well as Dellien and Andres Artunedo-Martinavarr (Spain). The Frenchman gave Fratangelo a run for his money, but the American prevailed, closing out the third set by a score of 63.

The rest is history as Fratangelo came back from a set down in the final to take the title, and earn enough points to sit at No.2 in the new ITF ranking.  

THE REST OF THE FIELD

It was a very disappointing tournament for many of the early favorites to win the French Open. The quartet of Brazilian prospects made up of Thiago Moura Monteiro, Joao Pedro Sorgi, Tiago Fernandez and Bruno Sant’Anna prove leading to Paris that they were among the best if the conversation was about playing in clay. However, Sorgi made it to the R16, and he was the one who advanced the farthest. Their performance in the South American COSAT tour and their forays into pro tournaments led many to believe that they would make some noise, but once again, the Brazilians were a major disappointment.

If one takes into account ATP ranking and experience, the odds-on favorite to take the title was Spaniard Roberto Carballes-Baena, who is ranking inside of the top 450 and has already won 3 futures titles, playing against some very tough competition in his homeland. However, Carballes-Baena was surprisingly upset by Croatian Mate Delic in the R16. The Spaniard had the consolation prize of taking the doubles crown along with countryman Andres Artunedo-Martinavarr, but one can’t help but think that he could’ve gone much farther in the singles draw. Another fellow Spaniard, Oriol Roca-Batalla reached the QFs, and if his pro results are taking into account, one might say that he could have advanced a little deeper.

Another shocking disappointment was seeing ITF No.1 and Australian Open champion Jiri Vesely bow out in R1. He lost to Yaraslau Shyla from Belarus, who is far from being an expert on clay, and who’s ranking is a product of playing many more tournaments that the norm. Vesely came into the French Open shortly after winning his first futures crown, at home and on clay, which made his early defeat much more painful to see.

The last interesting wrinkle was the lack of results coming from the Latin American players. Their performance was very ineffective, especially if one takes into account the fact the 3 out of 4 semi-finalists last year were South American (Collarini, Velotti and Beretta). Hugo Dellien, the No.2 seed was upset in R1 by a local WC. Ecuadorian Diego Hidalgo, Chilean Matias Sborowitz and Mexican Marco Aurei Nunez were also taken out in R1. Argentina, a juniors powerhouse in recent years failed to get a single player in the main draw (Dante Gennaro, Argentina’s only player in the top 100, was eliminated in R1 of the qualy). It is an alarming trend, since clay is their surface of preference and the French Open is every Latin American’s dream.

THE EFFECT ON THE FUTURE OF AMERICAN TENNIS

Fratangelo’s amazing feat comes at a time when American tennis is in decline in both the men’s and women’s sides. Andy Roddick isn’t getting any younger, and the next batch of players (namely Mardy Fish, John Isner and Sam Querrey) have already hit their ceiling, and are not likely to be contending for a spot in the top 10 or for the title at any of the big tournaments. As the sport is changing, more players are showing an ability to play on all surfaces. This explains why several of the world’s most heralded juniors are sent to train in the Spanish red clay, where they develop the habit of strategizing points and the ability to outlast their opponents, as opposed to out-serve them or out-hit them. While it’s true that the average player in the top 100 is becoming taller and with a stronger serve, it is becoming more essential than ever to be able to perform on all surfaces and to be solid on all aspects of the game.

The USTA has taken criticism for having its players focusing for too long on playing in hard courts, and ignoring the developmental benefits of playing in a slower surface clay. The criticism was apparently heard, as they sent Fratangelo, along with Alexios Halebian, Mitchell Krueger, Marcos Giron and Shane Vinsant to Europe for a mini-tour that included the Trofeo Bonfiglio and the French Open. The initiative paid off, as Fratangelo took the singles title and the doubles team of Krueger and Vinsant were the runners up, losing to the more experienced Carballes-Baena/Artunedo-Martinavarr tandem.

It will be interesting to see if the USTA switches more of its futures tournaments to clay, as well as supporting its brightest prospects with trips to Europe to compete against their counterparts from across the Atlantic. It’s not too late to send Denis Kudla, Andrea Collarini and Jack Sock, among others, around the world where they can face different opponents and styles of play.

It will greatly benefit the future of American tennis because the problem is not one of shortage of talent. For instance, American Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (’95), a kid who is ITF No.200 and who already has 1 ATP point, just won one of the most prestigious under-16 tournaments in Europe. Kwiatkowski won the Torneo Citta di Montecatini, defeating fellow American Spencer Papa, who advanced to the final coming from the qualifiers round. Both of them also took part in the doubles tournament, where they lost in the final.

Futures: Week 21


After a couple of weeks off the blog is up again. It was yet another exciting week in the futures tour with a few players continuing their hot streaks and some new ones picking up steam. Here’s the summary:

*IRAN F1: This Middle-Eastern future had a rather weak field for being a 15k tournament, as it was filled with unranked local players. Only the seeded players were ranked in the top 1000, and there was only 7 of them after Barry King of Ireland withdrew before the start of play. No.1 seed Matteo Marrai of Italy took the title, defeating No.3 seeded Ivan Nedelko of Russia 63 61 in the final. The top 4 seeds made the semi-finals, with Stanislav Vovk (‘91/RUS) and Kamil Capkovic losing in the SFs. Heralded former junior No.1 Daniel Berta (’92) of Sweden made it to the QFs, but only after laboring through 6 sets against inferior opponents. He was eliminated by Vovk in straight sets, resulting in another disappointing showing.

*KOREA F3: Unlike the previous week where the young-guns dominated the field in South Korea, it was a local veteran that played the best tennis and ended up as the champion. 30-year old Kyu-Tae Im defeated young Chinese Di Wu (’91) with a double 62, thus earning valuable points from this 15k tournaments. Wu defeated up and coming South Korean Yong-Kyu Lim (’91) in the QFs and Zhe Li of China in the semis. Im defeated 4 countrymen on his way to the final. The better-known young-guns disappointed, as American Michael McClune (’89) only reached R2, while Jaan-Frederik Brunken (‘90/GER) and Suk-Young Jeong (‘93/KOR) failed to even advance that far.

*UZBEKISTAN F2: The only other 15k tournament of the week took place in Uzbekistan, and once again the top seeds made most of the noise. Veteran No.1 seed Raven Klaasen of South Africa defeated second-seeded Mikhail Vasiliev (RUS) in 3 sets to take the title. Klaasen, who had a disappointing QF loss the previous week, defeated local Murat Inoyatov and Swiss Adrien Bossell en route to the final, while Vasiliev went through fellow Russian Ervand Gasparyan and youngster Alexander Rumyantsev (’92). Several young locals achieved their first ATP points due to the weakness of the field. Among them was local Temur Ismailov, born in 1995, although he had also won his R1 match the previous week. He was eliminated in straight sets by Bossell in R2.

*BOSNIA F5: Heralded former junior Jozef Kovalik (‘92/SVK) continued his successful  incursion into the pros by winning his first future title. He defeated No.2 seed local Aldin Setkic 63 64 in the final. Kovalik advanced to the final by defeating heralded Bosnian Damir Dzumhur (’92) in the semis. Dzuhmur was carrying an 8-match winning after taking the title at home 2 weeks ago. Setkic, who had not dropped sets before the final, lost his second final in 3 weeks (lost to Dzumhur in Bosnia F3).

*BRAZIL F16: Unseeded local Fabiano De Paula (’88) won his first title every, defeating the much better-known Nicolas Santos (‘88/BRA) 75 64 in the final. De Paula was taken to 3 sets in the first 2 rounds before hitting his stride and winning in straight sets the rest of the way. With the junior-aged locals participating in Roland Garros Jr, the field was open for lesser known prospects. ’93-born Brazilian Raul Francisquiny defeated 8th seeded Argentinean Guido Andreozzi (’91) on his way to the QFs, where he lost to Daniel Silva (‘90/BRA). ’92-born Uruguayan Martin Cuevas also advanced to the quarter-finals, taking down No.2 seed Eladio Ribeiro Neto in R1. Argentinean Juan Vazquez Valenzuela (’91) earned a single point after his R1 win. The former junior No.7 is trying to resume his career after retiring early last year to pursue an acting career. He bowed out to Daniel Silva in R2.

*GUAM F1: Top seeded Korean Daniel Yoo took the title over unseeded Japanese Jun Ito (’89), without doubts the surprise of the tournament held in this island in the Pacific Ocean. Ito upset three seeded players before surrendering to Yoo in straight sets. The field had 18 unranked players, and only the seeded players were ranked in the top 1000. Better-known Japanese young guns Yasutaka Uchiyama (’92) and Hiroyasu Ehara (’91) had solid showings, with Uchiyama reaching the semis and Ehara losing in the QFs. A trio of American players was among those who, in a very opportunistic fashion, obtained their first ATP points. These were Spencer Feldman, Amrit Narasimhat and Arthur Karagezian (’92).

*INDIA F7: ’88-born Swede Patrick Rosenholm returned to India after playing a trio of futures back home, and that proved to be a smart move as he once again took the title, this time defeating local Divij Sharan 64 64 in the final. Rosenholm is now in a 10-match streak in Indian territory. The 7th seed proved how comfortable he feels there as he cruised through the tournament without dropping a set. Rosenholm defeated surprise semi-finalist Russian Vitali Reshetnikov en route to the final, while the unseeded Sharan beat fellow Indian Vijayant Malik (’90). ’95-born Indian Neeraj Elangovan obtained his second ATP point with a R1 win, before losing in R2 to another Swede, Lucas Renard (’92). Renard was the man responsible for ousting No.1 seed American Nicholas Monroe. Also, a pair of  ’93-born Indian prospects, Gurinder Singh and Mohit Jayaprakash, obtained their first ever ATP points.

*INDONESIA F2: No.3 seed and local favorite Christopher Runkgat (’90) stayed on a roll as he won his second consecutive title at home, this time defeating Japanese Arata Onozawa (’88) in the final. He now has a 10-match winning streak. Runkgat took care of top seeded Aussie giant Mark Verryth (’91) in the semis before winning the final in two tie-breakers. Onozawa defeated fellow Japanese Kento Takeuchi. Most of the heralded Asian prospects disappointed, as Bowen Ouyang and Chuhan Wang (both ‘92/CHN), Liang-Chi Huang (‘91/TPE) and Jeson Patrombon (’93/PHI) all failed to make the QFs. The surprises of the tournament were German Richard Becker (’91) and unranked Thai Warit Sornbutnark (’93) who did manage to make the QFs.

*ISRAEL F6: Local Amir Weintraub is arguably the hottest man in the futures circuit, as he took his third consecutive title in home soil, extending his winning streak to 15 matches. After beating British David Rice the past 2 weeks, Weintraub took care of Italian Federico Gaio (’92) this time around. The young and talented Gaio is also having a great run in his first full year as a pro, sporting a 21-9 record. However, all he could do was take 6 games away from the No.1 seed, who defeated him 64 62. It is worth mentioning that Weintraub had only lost a combined 6 games in the 4 matches leading to the final. Joshua Jones (’89) and Oliver Hudson (’93), a pair of unknown Brits, sneaked into the QFs along with Italian Emanuele Molina (’91). More impressive yet was a group of extremely young Israeli earning ATP points at a very early age. Igor Smilansky (’95) won yet another R1 match, and so did Daniel Skripnik (’93) and the extremely precocious Tal Goldengoren (’96). Goldengoren is one of the few players his age in the ATP rankings.

*ITALY F12: After training most of last year in Argentina and performing very well throughout South America, Stefano Travaglia (’91) finally came home, and he did it in style. In a battle of ’91-born rising starts, Travaglia defeated Swedish-Brazilian Christian Lindell 62 62 in the final. Travaglia also conquered fellow young guns Filip Krajinovic (’92/SRB) and Marco Cecchinatto (‘92/ITA) en route to taking his first title at home. On the other semi-final, Lindell took care of Lithuanian youngster Laurynas Grigelis (’91). It was a very productive week for the next wave of tennis starts, as all four semi-finalists were born in 1991 or later.

*MEXICO F5: The Mexican futures are known for their lack of Young prospects, and this tournament proved no different, as local Miguel Gallardo Valles defeated No.1 seeded Moldavian Roman Borvanov in a battle of 29-year olds. Last week’s finalists both fell in the semis this time around, as Gallardo Valles defeated Uruguayan Marcel Felder and Borvanov defeated ’90-born Guatemalan Christopher Diaz-Figueroa. The only other youngster who posted a significant showing was Marvin Barker (‘91/NZL) who advanced to the QFs before losing to Borvanov.

*POLAND F3: Local No.3 seed Marcin Gawron (’88) continued the trend of back to back champions, as he took the title at home for the second consecutive week. This time around he defeated Dutchman Boy Westerhoff 64 62 in the final. Gawron did not drop sets throughout the week and is now on a 10-match winning streak. The surprise of the tournament was young Brit Jack Carpenter (’92), who advanced to the QFs with impressive straight sets wins over Maciej Smola and 6th seeded Gregorz Panfil before losing to the eventual champion. It was his best showing of the year for Carpenter, who is having a very disappointing first full season as a pro.

*ROMANIA F2: Qualifier local Victor Ionita benefited from the retirement of Italian Thomas Fabbiano (’89) in the final to take the title. Ionita, who was in the top 200 back in 2005, survived a trio of 3-setters in the early rounds en route to the final. Fabbiano, on his part, overcame last week’s champion Petru-Alexandru Luncanu (‘89/ROM) and the tournament’s top seed Gerard Granollers-Pujol before running out of gas in the final. Unranked ’89-born German Stephen Hoiss was the surprise of the tournament, as he rode a favorable draw into the QFs, where he lost in straight sets to the eventual champion.

*SPAIN F18: No.1 seed Arnau Brugues-Davi (ESP) proved that he is virtually unbeatable in the futures this year, claiming his 7th title of the season after defeating unseeded Irish James McGee. Brugues-Davi has won titles in France, Turkey, USA and now Spain. He has lost only once, to ’92-born rising German Kevin Krawietz in Croatia in late February. McGee gave the Spaniard all he could handle before surrendering in the third set tie-breaker. Unranked Javier Pulgar-Garcia (’89/ESP) was the surprise of the tournament, as he defeated a streaking Tak Khunn Wang (‘91/FRA) to reach the QFs. He was slotted to play McGee but was forced to walk over due to injury.