Futures: Week 27

Top seeds, one returning veteran and plenty of next-wavers enjoyed the sweet taste of success this week in the futures. Here’s the recap:

*ARMENIA F2: After falling just short last week, Croatian Toni Androic (’91) wasn’t about to let another opportunity slip by. He defeated Russian (of Armenian descent) Ervand Gasparyan in a straight sets final. With the win, Androic improves to 26-10 in 2011 and will jump to a career high spot inside the top 400 in the world. He jumped over 100 ranking spots in 2 weeks thanks to his success in Armenian territory. The champion had a combination of impressive wins, guts and luck to clinch the title, as he defeated current ITF No.1 Jiri Vesely (‘93/CZE) in 3 sets, and outlasted Stanislav Poplavskyy (’91/UKR) and Ivan Nedelko in the next 2 rounds (they both retired before the end of their matches). Ironically, Gasparyan’s run was much smoother, not dropping a set until the final, and crushing last week’s champion Dino Marcan (’91/CRO) by a score of 62 60. Gasparyan went on to defeat the brand new Russian (and former Georgian) Nikoloz Basilashvili (’92) in the semis before losing the final to Androic. The disappointing performances of the tournament came in the hands of top seeds Mikhail Vassiliev and Valery Rudnev. Both Russians were eliminated in the QFs.

*CHINESE TAIPEI F2: Just like Androic in Armenia, Hiroki Moriya (’90) wasn’t about to lose consecutive finals. That’s why the diminutive Japanese took advantage of the early elimination of top seed Tsung-Hua Yang (’91/TPE), and clinched the title by defeating unseeded Korean Jae-Sung An. Moriya is having an excellent 2011 season (improved to 30-13) and with the title he will likely surpass his previous career high and rank somewhere inside the top 360 in the world. The winner had a rough road to the title, as he endured 3 three-setters during the week. He went the distance against Christopher Rungkat (‘90/INA) and Ti Chen only to reach the final. An had a smoother run to the final, which included upsetting Yang (who himself had taken out last week’s champion Junn Mitsuhashi) easily in the semis. An had also taken out another talented next-waver in Yong-Lyu Kim (’91/KOR) in the quarter finals.

*FRANCE F12: No great surprises here as top seed Gregoire Burquier clinched the title over Dutchman Antal van der Duim in a contested 3-set final. The 26-year old has played a lot of tennis this season, but the win will guarantee him a new career high and a spot very close to the top 200. He dropped an average of 5 games per match leading to the final, including wins over French up and comers Tak Khunn Wang (’91) and Jerome Inzerillo (’90). Van der Duim, the runner-up, also made his way to the final without dropping any sets. He benefitted from the retirement of Miljan Zekic, last week’s champion, in R2 due to injury, who was on his side of the draw. In the early rounds, the French next-wavers had a very positive showing, with Michael Bois (’94), Tristan Lamasine (’93) and Maxime Chazal (’93) logging R1 wins. Hugo Nys (’91) made it a round further, advancing to the QFs, along with German Sami Renwein (’92). Finally, the surprise of the tournament was the early elimination of Aussie James Ducksworth (’92), who had been on a tear lately but lost to Nicolas Rosenzweig, who was the last direct entrant into the main draw.

*ITALY F18: Keeping up with the theme of the week, Italian Thomas Fabbiano (’89) avenged his loss in the final last week by managing to close out Frenchman Laurent Rochette 64 64 to win the title. The champion improved to 22-11 and seems to have turned his 2011 season around by winning 9 of 10 in the last 2 15k tournaments. He was only taken the distance in the semis against top seed Marco Crugnola, and showed very good form throughout the week with strong wins over Stefano Travaglia (‘91/ITA) and Pierre-Hughes Herbert (‘92/FRA). Rochette had to work a little harded to reach the final, as he had to dismiss rising Spaniard Roberto Carballes-Baena (’93) and Nikolaus Moser (’90/AUT) in 3 sets just to get a shot at Fabbiano. It was a very much needed successful week for the runner-up as he had been on the downswing over the last few months after reaching his career high ranking in late April. Among the next-wavers, Italian Eros Siringo (’91) defeated Manuel Sanchez (’91/MEX) in R1 to clinch his first ATP point.

*AUSTRIA F2: Slovakian Norbert Gombos (’90) won his first title of the season by defeating German veteran Alexander Flock in a straight sets final. Gombos was building on a SF showing the previous week and improved to 28-13 for the year. With the win he will jump to a new career high that will be over 100 spots higher than his ranking at the beginning of the season, making Gombos one of the most successful players in the futures circuit in 2011. He benefited from the withdrawal of Hungarian Adam Kellner, who was the top seed but didn’t play, clearing up the draw for the eventual champion. Gombos also had to go through Swiss veteran Michael Lammer in the semis, and he defeated him after 3 long sets. Flock had to work hard to get to the final too, since Czech starlet Roman Jebavy (’89) pushed him to the brink before losing 63 in the third set. Among the next-wavers, Jozef Kovalik (‘92/SVK) made it to the QFs, while fellow Slovaks Filip Horansky (’93) and Adrian Partl (’93), along with Czech Robert Rumler (’93) all advanced to R2.

*BELGIUM F3: Matwe Middlekoop of Netherlands took advantage of being the top seed in clinching the title, defeating surprise finalist and French starlet Julien Obry (’91) in the final. Middlekoop won his second futures title of the season and did it by turning into a Belgian-starlet slayer. Just to reach the final, the Dutchman took out the best of the best of Belgian prospects, defeating Julien Cagnina (’94), Germain Gigougnon (’89), Yannick Reuter (’91) and Arthur de Greef (’92). The last 2 took him to 3 sets, but the top seed was on a mission and fought his way to the final, where he took out another hyped youngster. Obry, a former ITF No.5 who had a very rough start of 2011, has been slowly building momentum since he won his first title in mid-May. This week, he had a couple of lucky breaks but showed his resilience by defeating Alexandre Folie (‘90/BEL) in a 3-set semi-final.

*BRAZIL F21: Jose Pereira (’91/BRA) got his 2011 breakthrough with this title at home after defeating countryman Tiago Lopes in straight sets in the final. Pereira, a former ITF No.4 was having a very disappointing season but logged some impressive wins en route to lifting the trophy. Pereira took out top seed Andre Miele in the QFs and was only taken the distance once, in the SFs. That happened against the surprise of the tournament, fellow Brazilian Joao-Pedro Sorgi (’93). Sorgi was taking part in his first pro tournament of the season, and won 6 straight matches (3 in the qualys) to reach the semi-finals and give the eventual champion all he could handle. Lopes, the other finalist, survived the test of Argentinean veteran Juan Pablo Villar but couldn’t get past an inspired Pereira. Among the younger players, a trio of ITF-aged Brazilians logged R1 wins, including Pedro Sakamoto (’93), Gabriel Vicentini Pereira (’94) and Gabriel Friedrich (’94). The latter earned his first ever ATP point.

*GREAT BRITAIN F10: After winning his first title of the season last week, Josh Goodall of Great Britain decided to make it 2. This week he took out top seed Daniel Evans (’90) in the final to seal the deal and improve his winning streak to 10 matches. He’s now 27-11 as he looks to get back to the days where he was a top 200 player. Unlike the previous week, Goodall didn’t drop any sets and had the honor of taking out the top 2 seeds during the week. Evans had a much harsher way to the final, which included a 3-set win over Australian up and comer Michael Look in the semis. Among the next-wavers, James Marsalek (’92/GBR) took out the 3^rd seed in R1 en route to advancing to the QFs where he lost to Look. George Morgan (’92) and Mate Pavic (’93) logged R1 wins but couldn’t advance any further.

*ROMANIA 6: Axel Michon (‘90/FRA) has proven time and again that he is arguably the best player in the futures circuit. He won another title, his fourth of 2011, and improved his record to 39-9. He went through the week without dropping sets and with the win, he’ll earn enough points to reach a new career high, this time comfortably inside the top 300. He defeated unseeded local Robert Coman (’90) in the final. Coman was only one of several next-wavers to have a breakthrough week. He defeated Libor Salaba (‘92/CZE) in the semis and Thomas Le Boulch (‘92/FRA) in the QFs. Le Boulch was unranked coming into the tournament. German Peter Heller (’92) was another surprise semi-finalist, and he got there after upsetting last week’s champion Petru-Alexandru Luncanu (‘90/ROM) in 3 sets. Other next-wavers to earn valuable points during the week were Antoine Escoffier (’92/FRA), Jules Marie (‘91/FRA), Vasile-Alexandru Ghilea (‘93/ROM) and Darius Florin Bragusi (‘93/ROM), all of whom advanced to R2 before being eliminated.

*SPAIN F24: Top seed Ilya Belyaev (‘90/RUS) put his talent in display, clinching the title in the final against Italian veteran Enrico Burzi. It was his first title of the season, and he did it in style, without dropping sets and defeating several veterans including Burzi, Lopez-Jaen and Poch-Gradin. Despite an irregular season, the win will get him to closer to his ranking at the beginning of the year, meaning that he has the rest of the season to build on this performance. The tournament was veteran-laden, with Niels Desein of Belgium being the youngest semi-finalist at the age of 24. Australian Maverick Banes (’92) made it to the QFs, a very positive resulting for the young-gun. Several youngsters logged R1 wins but couldn’t get past the wily veterans in the field. Among them was Albert Alcaraz Ivorra (’95). He earned his second ATP point by defeating fellow 16-year old Ramkumar Ramanthan (IND). Others to earn points were Andres Artunedo Martinavarr (’93/ESP), Bastian Trinker (‘90/AUT) and Juan Lizariturry (’91/ESP). Finally, one last interesting wrinkle was the presence of Belgian veteran Christophe Rochus, who was eliminated in R2.

*USA F18: Gabriel Moraru, a 29-year old Romanian who finished 2010 unranked, won his first title of the season after defeating Takanyi Garanganga (‘90/ZIM) 64 62 in the final. Moraru was once in the top 250 a few years back, but did not play pro tennis between August of 2009 and April of 2011. He had decided to retire because he couldn’t break into the top 150 and lost the desire to play. However, after almost 20 months being away from the courts (he spent some time coaching), he decided to jump back in the fray. This week he showed that the talent is still there, and with the win he improved to 14-5 in 2011. He took out 3 seeds, including No.2 Denis Zivkovic of the USA, and only dropped one set (in the semis vs. Sykut). Garanganga, his runner-up, had a very good week of his own, defeating top seed Robbye Poole in a tough 3-set SF. Unlike the previous week, it wasn’t such a splendid week for the next-wavers. Tennys Sandgren (‘91/USA) advanced to the QFs but lost to Poole. However, a slew of young Americans collected valuable first round points in their quest to improve their rankings: Michael Redlicki (‘93/first ATP point), Bjorn Fratangelo (’93), Jason Tahir (’93), Evan King (’92) and Mitchell Frank (’92) all advanced to R2 before being eliminated.                                                            

The 5 relatively-unknown players with the best chance at cracking the top 100 before year's end

*PABLO CARRENO-BUSTA (’91/ESP):  The Spaniard has advanced over 160 ranking spots in 2011 alone. He became a mainstay at the challenger level, winning his first title in Alessandria (Italy) in late May. For the rest of the year, he only has to defend 50 points (thanks to 3 futures finals from 2010), showing he has a lot of room to improve his ranking. He currently sits 183 in the world and is about 225 points away from the 100^th spot. Look for him to clinch at least one more challenger title and to win a couple of ATP matches by year’s end.

*JAVIER MARTI (‘92/ESP): Marti is another highly touted Spaniard who has made great strides in 2011. This year he improved his ranking by over 100 spots as of now, and he already won his first ATP level match, a R1 match against Daniel Gimeno-Traver in the Hertogenbosch grass. He also qualified to his first Grand Slam, defeating American Ryan Harrison along the way, before losing to Albert Ramos-Vinolas in 5 sets in the first round. Marti has to defend about a third of his points, and more than double his current harvest, but with a bevy of clay challengers in Europe and his track record of consistent improvement I believe it’s possible. It’s probably the longest shot of the 5, but I also believe he’s the one that will have the better career in the long-run.  

*CEDRIC-MARCEL STEBE (‘90/GER): The former ITF No.6 (2008) is having a breakthrough year, holding a 26-9 record and jumping nearly 200 spots in the ranking. He sits at 197 in the world and this week he claimed the best win of his career, defeating Russian Nikolay Davydenko in Stuttgart. Earlier in the year he won back to back futures in Turkey, and he reached his second challenger final in Kyoto, Japan. The young German has to defend only 9 points the rest of the year and is only 250 points out of the top 100. Stebe has shown his versatility, making his way to the Wimbledon main draw from the qualys, and reaching semi-finals in challengers in both clay and hard courts. He also reached the quarter-finals of the Junior US Open so expect him to have a good performance in New York.

*ULADZIMIR IGNATIK (‘90/BLR): The talented player from Belarus has already jumped 70 spots since the end of 2010. Ignatik is a former ITF No.1 back in 2007, when he won the Junior French Open and reached the final at Wimbledon. He won a challenger title in China this year has jumped to 153 in the world. Despite his young age, he is a fixture in the Belarus Davis Cup team, where he’s had mixed results. He has to defend the majority of his points due to a very successful latter part of 2010, but I believe that he will do it. As of right now, he’s about 160 points away from the top 100, and I think his talent and versatility will be enough to get him there, or at least very close.

*KENNY DE SCHEPPER (‘87/FRA): This giant Frenchman has seemingly come out of nowhere. With no junior record to speak of, De Schepper has gone from 726 in the world at the end of 2009 to 144 in the world starting this week. This comes on the heels of winning his first challenger title at Pozoblanco, Spain. De Schepper, who stands at 6’6 (2.02 meters) tall, has been almost unstoppable at the futures level, and also reached the final at another challenger (at home in Quimper in early February). In 2011, he also played his first ATP match, at Wimbledon of all places. He made his way through the qualy before losing in R1 to Olivier Rochus in 5 sets. The lefty only has to defend 50 of his 375 points and seems to be hitting his stride with the win at Pozoblanco. Being 150 points way from the top 100, I believe he’s the one with the best chance of cracking it on this list.

Futures: Week 26

This week brought suspended tournaments, triumphant returns to the pros and plenty of 2011 first timers. Here’s a quick recap:

*ARMENIA F1: Interesting location for a 15k tournament, with Armenia being a country without much of a tennis tradition lately, short of Sargis Sargsian’s run in the late 90’s. Whatever the case it worked for Croatian Dino Marcan (’91), who earned the title after defeating Toni Androic (’91/CRO) in the final 46 62 63. The winner, a former ITF top 25, had been having an irregular season but broke through the barrier and won his first title in his second attempt.  It wasn’t a pretty run for his, as he was almost knocked out in R1 to an unranked qualifier, and then had to go through the No.2 and No.3 seeds, Russians Andrey Kumantsov and Alexander Rumyantsev (’92). Androic’s run to the final was smoother, not allowing anyone to take a set out of him and taking out the top seed, Russian Valery Rudnev in the QFs. The surprise of the tournament was unranked Georgian George Tsivadze (’93), who came from the qualifiers and advanced to the QFs, taking out No.8 seed Stanislav Poplavskyy (‘91/UKR).

*CHINESE TAIPEI F1: The much-heralded Tsung-Hua Yang took advantage of being the top seed and playing at home and won his first title of the season, defeating Japan’s Junn Mitsuhashi (’89) 60 63 in the final. Yang, the former Jr. Roland Garros winner and ITF No.1, broke a 4 match losing streak with this title. He was only taking to 3 sets in the QFs against Indian Sanam Singh, but then dismissed fellow Taiwanese Hsin-Han Lee in the semis, before crushing Mitsuhashi in the final. The diminutive Japanese, on the other hand, has been one of the hottest names in the futures tour, and improved to 24-8 in 2011 despite the loss. He defeated the No.2 seed Ti Chen in the semis and carried a 9-match winning streak into the final, but was no match for the more talented Yang.

*FRANCE F11: Miljan Zekic is yet another example of the great moment that Serbian tennis is going through right now. Despite not being that well known, the 23-year old won his third title of the season (all in different countries), this time defeating the younger and more hyped Alexandre Folie (’90/BEL) in the final. Zekic improved to 25-7 on the year, and will rise to a career high ranking very close to 300. To win the title, Zekic had a fairly smooth run, only having to go the extra mile in the semis, where it took him 3 sets to get rid of French starlet Gianni Mina (’92). Folie defeated Sami Renwein (‘92/GER) in the SFs. Another player who had a good run was young Frenchman Julien Obry (’91). The much-hyped prospect was poised for a breakout after advancing to the QFs and taking out No.2 seed veteran Olivier Patience. However, he failed to get past Folie and his run ended there. Among the youngest players in the draw, Frenchman Laurent Lokoli (’94) obtained his first ever ATP point with a R1 win over Romain Sichez. Fellow ’94-born prospect, Mathias Bourgue was eliminated by Obry in R1.

*ITALY F17: For a guy who lists grass as his favorite surface, James Ducksworth (’92/AUS) seems to do just fine on the red clay. The Australian is dominating the futures realm in 2011 (26-8) and is on a roll as of late, this time defeating No.2 seed Thomas Fabbiano (‘89/ITA) in straight sets in the final. It was the third title of the year for the former ITF No.7, who will move to a career high ranking somewhere inside the top 400 next week. The champion dropped exactly 0 sets throughout the week, and took out Federico Gaio (‘92/ITA) in the semis. Gaio improved to 21-9 and is also having a very successful first full season as a pro. Fabbiano, runner-up, has had a difficult year and has dropped 80 spots in the ranking after reaching his career high at the beginning of the year. Among the rest of the field, Marco Cecchinato upset 3 fellow Italians to make an improbable run to the semis, where he lost to Fabbiano. Also, Marco Bortolotti (’91) took advantage of a favorable draw to make it to the QFs before losing to the eventual champion.

*AUSTRIA F1: 22-year old Austrian Nicolas Reissig continued with the trend of the week of winning their first title after subpar performances in 2011 up to this week. He claimed his first title of the season, defeating Marc Rath (‘89/AUT) in the final. Reissig, who is now 13-11, didn’t drop a set all week, and defeated Slovakian Norbert Gombos (’90) in the semis. In the other semi-final, Rath had to get rid of fellow Austrian Bastian Trinker (’90), who made a surprise appearance at that stage after knocking-out top seed Gerald Melzer (‘90/AUT) in R2. The tournament lacked any hyped prospects, with the possible exception of Robert Rumler (‘93/CZE) and Henri Laaksonen (‘92/SUI), both eliminated in R1 by the eventual finalists.

*BELGIUM F2: No major surprises here as top seeded veteran Nicolas Devilder took the title in only his second futures tournament of the year. The 31-year old Frenchman, who had spent most of the year playing challengers and ATP qualifiers, defeated the bright-yet-irregular Yannick Reuter (‘91/BEL) in the final. Devilder, who was once ranked as high as 60, had a fairly smooth run, except for his SF clash against 22-year old Germain Gigougnon of Belgium, who surrendered 75 in the third set. Reuter, for his part, advanced to the final after defeating fellow famous Belgian Arthur De Greef (’92) in another tough 3-setter. Both are former ITF top 20 players. All of the highest-rated local prospects were in the draw, including the ’94-born duo of Kimmer Coppejans (ITF No. 38) and Julien Cagnina (ITF No.25), both of whom earned their first ever ATP points. A third prospect, Joris De Loore (’93/ITF No.18) was also granted a WC but failed to advance to R2.

*BRAZIL F20: It was a successful return to the futures tour for top seed Ricardo Hocevar, as he won his second title of the year after a long absence. The 25-year old Brazilian defeated No.2 seed Daniel Silva (‘90/BRA) to lift the trophy. The former top 150 had been playing challengers and ATP qualifiers most of the year, and showed that his level of play is above the futures level. He was only challenged by Argentinean Christian Benedetti, who took him to a third set (64 46 61). Silva defeated Fernando Romboli (who should’ve been the top seed had he not forgotten to sign up for the tournament and was forced to play the qualy) in R2 and beat another Argentinean veteran (Juan Pablo Villar) in the semis, but was no match for Hocevar in the final. Alessandro Bega (’91/ITA) was the surprise of the week, advancing to the QFs before being taken care of by Hocevar. Moreover, 17-year old Felipe Assuncao Garla earned his first ATP point. The ’94-born Brazilian beat Henrique Tsukamoto in R1.

*CHILE F6: This tournament had to be suspended after the second round because of incessant rains in Antofagasta, Chile. However, there were still some interesting wrinkles to be mentioned. Argentineans Gaston Paz (’93) and Agustin Portis (’92), as well as Chileans Marcelo Plaza (’94) and Michel Vernier (’92) all obtained their first ATP points. Plaza took a step further, defeating Vernier and advancing into the QFs. ’92-born Argentineans Federico Coria (Guillermo’s little brother) and Facundo Mena confirmed their good momentum, both advancing to the QFs where they were set to play each other. Coria took out No.2 seed Cristobal Saavedra-Corvalan in R1. Ecuadorian Juan Sebastian Vivanco (’90) also made it to the QFs and was set to play top seed Chilean Guillermo Rivera. Patricio Heras vs. Rodrigo Perez and Plaza vs. Gaston Grimolizzi were the other 2 QFs clashes.

*GERMANY F8: Roman Jebavy (‘89/CZE) took the title after defeating Chilean Hans Podlipnik-Castillo (’88) 62 60 in the final. It was the first title of the season for Jebavy, another player who up until that point was going through a disappointing season (20-18). The Czech, a former ITF No.3, went the whole week without dropping a set, defeating German up and comer Florian Fallert (’92) in R2 and top seed Brydan Klein (‘89/AUS) along the way. Podlipnik-Castillo, the runner-up, only struggled in his SF clash against Adrian Mlendea of Romania, after crushing No.2 seed Juan Pablo Amado of Argentina in the QFs. Among the rest of the players, German George Von Massow (’90) earned his first ATP point, while Peter Gojowczyk, the 3^rd seed, went out in R1 after having to come through the qualy.

*GREAT BRITAIN F9: Local player Josh Goodall won his first title of 2011 after defeating fellow Brit David Rice (’89) 75 61 in the final. The winner, a top 200 player only 2 years back, had to labor his way to the final, as both Marcus Willis (‘90/GBR) and Albano Olivetti (‘91/FRA) made him go the distance. Rice had an easier path, getting rid of bright-yet-inexperienced ’93-born George Morgan (GBR) and Sean Berman (USA) in the early rounds. He then beat fellow Brit Sean Thornley in the semis. Among the younger prospects present, James Marsalek and Tom Farquharsson (both ‘92/GBR) plus Mate Pavic (‘93/CRO/current ITF No.8) advanced to R2 before being eliminated. Brits Oliver Golding (’93) and Kyle Edmund (’95) both failed to advance, being eliminated in R1.

*ROMANIA F5: 22-year old local hope Petru-Alexandru Luncanu took the title after Lebanese Bassam Beidas retired when the Romanian was up 64. It was the second futures title of the season for Luncanu, who has once an ITF No.3. Luncanu had to fight through a 3-setter in R1 against Frenchman Yannick Jankovits, but then had an easy weekend as first Jordi Samper-Montana (‘90/ESP), in the semis, and then Beidas were unable to finish their matches and were forced to retire. Luncanu improves to 26-8 in 2011 as he tries to finally jumpstart what has been so far an underwhelming pro career. Among the younger players in the draw, the Romanian duo of Lucian Gheorghe (’92) and Darius Florin Bragusi (’93) made it to R2, along with Libor Salaba (‘92/CZE).

*SPAIN F23: It was yet another player winning his first futures title of 2011, as top seed Claudio Grassi of Italy saved quite a few match points before defeating No.2 seed Rudy Coco of France in 3 long sets. The ambidextrous Grassi was 15-14 entering the tournament, but the points from the win will launch him into a new career high inside the top 350. Experience definitely came handy in the semis, as Grassi took out Enrique Lopez-Perez (‘91/ESP) and Coco defeated Nikala Scholtz (‘92/RSA). However, it was ’93-born Spaniard Axel Alvarez Llamas who surprised many by advancing to the QFs, defeating 6^th seeded Simon Cauvard in R2. Another young Spanish prospect, David Perez-Sanz (’94), obtained his 4^th ATP point by advancing to R2 before being edged out by the eventual champion.

*USA F17: Saving the best story for last, let me introduce you to American Brian Baker. The 26 year old was ITF No.2 back in 2003, the same year where he reached the final of the Jr. French Open, where he lost to some dude by the name of Stanislav Wawrinka. Throughout his junior career, he beat guys like Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Marcos Baghdatis and Tomas Berdych. In the pros, he beat Gaston Gaudio a year after the Argentine took the French Open. A few years back he was forced to retire because of a hip injury, and later on became an assistant coach at Belmont University. He was once the next great thing for American tennis, and we had all thought that injuries had claimed him for good. But wait, not so fast he seemed to scream. This week Baker went through 3 qualyfing matches and 5 more main draw ones to earn his first title of any kind in 7 years (Denver challenger in 2004). What made this tournament so interesting was that Baker defeated Bjorn Fratangelo (’93) in the final. Fratangelo is fresh of winning the Jr. French Open himself a couple of months ago, a feat Baker was very close to achieving in 2003. For Baker, it wasn’t an easy road to the final, but he managed to defeat some of the other current brightest American prospects like Mitchell Frank (’92) and Chase Buchanan (’91). The unseeded Fratangelo had to take out 3 seeded players just to reach the final (his first one in the pros), but couldn’t get past the comeback kid. Among the rest of the players in the draw, Baker wasn’t the only American to enter the rankings. Nicholas Meister (’89) and Harry Fowler (’91) won their R1 matches, with Fowler advancing to the QFs before being eliminated by Buchanan.  

Futures: Week 25

Here’s a recap of the action:

*FRANCE F10: Chilean Jorge Aguilar continued his great play en route to taking this 15k + H title, defeating local Kenny De Schepper 76 64 in the final. Aguilar, who reached the final last week in Netherlands F3, did not drop a set all week and earned valuable points that will vault him to the doorstep of the top 200. The 25 year-old defeated No.2 seed Romain Jouan to reach the final. De Schepper, who is having a career year, improved to 31-12 in 2011 and will find himself inside the top 200 next week. The 24-year old French giant had to beat Alexandre Sidorenko (‘88/FRA) in the SFs and had not dropped a set prior to the final. Among the young-guns, Julien Obry (’91),Tak-Khunn Wang (’91) Pierre-Hughes Herbert (’92), all from France, only advanced to R2, along with 17 year old Armel Rancezot (‘94/FRA), who obtained his first ever ATP point.  

*GERMANY F7: 23 year old Czech Dusan Lojda took home the title after defeating German starlet Kevin Krawietz (’92) in 3 sets. The talented Lojda, who’s having a very subpar 2011 season, survived a few scares along the way before lifting the trophy. En route to the final, the Czech, who was ITF No.3 back in 2006, had to fight his way through German Peter Gojowczyk (’89), a finalist the previous week, before defeating him 63 in the third. Meanwhile, the much-hyped Krawietz took advantage of a draw that opened up for him, but not before getting rid of Brydan Klein (‘89/AUS) and Kritijan Mesaros (‘88/CRO). The young German has been playing lots of tennis in his first full year as a pro, and this performance will launch him into the top 500 in the world. The disappointing performance of the week was handed by Argentinean Pablo Galdon, who after winning Netherlands F3 was routed by Swede Carl Bergman 62 60 in R1.

*ITALY F16: 27-year old veteran Daniele Giorgini clinched his second futures title of the season after defeating the ever-improving Aussie James Ducksworth (’92) in two tie-breakers. In a tournament in which 14 of 16 players in the second round were from Italy, Giorgini navigated the field best, not dropping a set all week, leaving behind Luca Vanni and Enrico Burzi among others. On the other hand, Ducksworth continued his stellar 2011 season (his first full one as a pro), improving to 26-8 and gathering enough points to secure a spot in the top 400, which will be a new career high. He had to defeat experienced locals Matteo Marrai and No.1 seed Matteo Viola, the winner of Italy F15 the previous week.

*MOROCCO F5: It was an underdog story this week, as local player Mehdi Ziadi came all the way from the qualifiers to take the title over Irishman James McGee. It was an unlikely run for the 24-year old shorty, who took advantage of his draw opening after round after round. However, he had to fight through Alexandre Folie (‘90/BEL), the 5^th seed, in R1. Along the way, he defeated a pair of unheralded youngster who also had excellent weeks. They were Rafael Mazon-Hernandez (‘90/ESP) in the QFs and Florent Diep (‘91/FRA) in the semis. Diep took down fellow Frenchman and No.1 seed Augustin Gensse in R2. McGee’s run was the opposite, as he had to eliminate the No.2 and No.4 seeds, Russians Mikhail Vassiliev and Ivan Nedelko just to reach the final. Other youngsters earning points this week were Sebastien Lavie (‘92/NZL) and Jozef Kovalik (‘92/SVK) both making it to R2 before being eliminated.  

*NETHERLANDS F4: Belgian Yannick Mertens won his second futures title of the season after defeating surprise finalist Victor Baluda (‘92/RUS) 64 64 in the final. Mertens, who reached his 4^th final of the season, improved to 28-13 in what it’s turning out to be a very productive 2011. He benefitted from a walk over by German Peter Torebko in the semis, and survived a tricky R1 match against Brit Daniel Smethurst (’90). Baluda reached the first final of his short career, and to do so he had to start with a bang. He Russian giant eliminated top seeded James Lemke of Australia in R1 and experienced Dutch Matwe Middlekoop en route to the final. With the final appearance, Baluda will set a new career high ranking, this time on the better side of 600. On a separate note, Dutchman Alban Mueffels (’92) earned his second consecutive ATP point with a R1 win over Korean Cheong-Eui Kim.

*SPAIN F22: Another week, another tournament, same champion. Arnau Brugues-Davi dominance of the futures circuit is absolute. The 26 year old Spaniard won his 9^th title of 2011 and improved to 46-5 and a 35-match winning streak at the futures level. His supremacy was obvious in every match except for his SFs clash against Finn Harri Helliovaara (’89), a former ITF top 20 who took him 3 sets. However, Brugues-Davi closed the third set 63 and went on to defeat Miloslav Mecir Jr. (‘88/SVK) 61 63 in the final. Mecir upset Frenchmen Gregoire Bourquier and Josselin Ouanna, along with South African youngster Nikala Scholtz (’91) to reach the final. Brugues-Davi eliminated Taro Daniel (’93/JPN) and Ilya Belyaev (‘90/RUS) along the way. Great Britain’s hope, Daniel Cox (’90) reached the QFs before being eliminated by Ouanna. Moreover, the steady-riser Ramkumar Ramanathan (‘94/IND) obtainer another point by advancing to R2 before being eliminated also by Ouanna.  

*ARGENTINA F9: Facundo Arguello (‘92/ARG) showed, possibly for the last time, that his game is too big for the futures circuit. The Argentinean rising-star won his second title in a row (and third of the season), defeating the always-improving Guillermo Duran in the final. The former ITF top 10 once again had to go through his friend/doubles partner Agustin Velotti (’92/ARG) in the QFs, defeating him in another 3 setter, this one even more dramatic than last week’s. After that, he found no opposition, losing only 8 games combined in his SF clash against Nicolas Pastor (‘91/ARG) and the final vs. Duran. The win will bring him to about 250 in the ranking, a career high. The 23-year old Duran lost his second final of the season, but improved to 21-11 and will be inside the top 400 in a week. He defeated fellow rising-Argentine Kevin Konfederak (’91) in the semis. All 8 players in the QFs were from Argentina, including ’91-born Valentin Florez (who came from the qualy) and Juan Ignacio Londero (’93), who took out No.2 seed Brazilian Rodrigo Guidolim. It was another very positive week for Argentinean young-guns, as the most-heralded member of the ’94 class, Mateo Martinez, obtained his maiden ATP point with a R1 win over Santiago Celia.  

*BRAZIL F19: Underappreciated local Fabiano De Paula won his second consecutive futures title, defeating No.1 seed rising-star Christian Lindell (’91) in the final. ’88-born De Paula had won Brazil F16 and had been on a break since then. He is now on a 10-match winning streak, improved to 25-10 for the year and will be very close to cracking the top 500 a week from now. To reach the final De Paula crushed No.2 seed Andre Miele 61 61 in the semis. The other finalist, Swedish-Brazilian Lindell lost his 6^th final in 7 tries dating back to July of 2010. Regardless of that, and despite an 18-15 record in 2011, he is already inside the top 300 at the age of 19. He is one of the fastest-rising prospects in the world, and a name to keep a close eye on. The surprise of the tournament was Gabriel Vicentini Pereira (’93/BRA)’s run to the QFs. He was eliminated by Miele. Also reaching the QFs were Andre Baran (‘91/BRA) and Alessandro Bega (‘91/ITA). Also, Chilean Marco Sobarzo-Vignolo (’88) obtained his first ever ATP point.

*CHILE F5: Argentinean Gaston Grimolizzi won his second title of the year, defeating Paraguayan Daniel Lopez (’89) 64 62 in the final. The 25 year old Grimolizzi didn’t drop a set all week and improved to 21-6 for the year, while trying to get back to the form that took him to be 440 in the world in 2008. The win will get him closer to 500, with half of the year still to be played. The tournament was marred by upsets, which explains why Juan Sebastian Vivanco (‘90/ECU) and Javier Munoz (‘91/CHI) were the losing semi-finalists. Vivanco eliminated veteran Peruvian Ivan Miranda and Diego Galeano (‘92/PAR) while Munoz took out No.3 seeded Patricio Heras (’89) of Argentina. However, it was due to Argentinean youngsters that the top 2 seeds didn’t make it far. Facundo Mena (’92) advanced to the QFs after defeating top seed Guillermo Rivera-Aranguiz (’89) in 3 sets. He was eliminated by Lopez. On the lower side of the draw,  fellow Argentine Matias Salinas (’91) won his first ATP point with a R1 win, and one-upped it by taking out No.2 seed Cristobal Saavedra-Corvalan in R2. It certainly wasn’t a good week for the local players, with the exception of Munoz’s run and ’93-born Gonzalo Lama earning yet another point.

*GREAT BRITAIN F8: No surprises here as top seed Malek Jaziri took the title with a 3-set win over Frenchman Rudy Coco in the final. It was the second title of the year for him, as he had won in the last future tournament held in the island. The 27 year old Tunisian encountered 4 Brits en route to the final, beating them all in straight sets. He defeated unseeded Sean Thornley (’89) in the semis. Coco benefitted from the injury-related retirement of No.2 seed Henri Kontinen (’90) in the other SF. Kontinen had a long QF clash against young Frenchman Albano Olivetti, and after pulling out a 3-set win, he had little left for his semi-final bout. The British youngsters disappointed once again, with Alexander Ward (’90), Lewis Burton (’92), Tom Farquharsson (’92) and Richard Gabb (’92) all being eliminated in R2.

*JAPAN F8: ’89-born Junn  Mitsuhashi showed no intention to slow down, winning his second title in 3 weeks. The Japanese little-guy defeated countryman Hiroki Moriya (’90), in a repeat final from 2 weeks ago. This time it was a hard-fought 3 setter, but the one lifting the trophy was the same person. To reach the final, Mitsuhashi (24-8 in 2011) defeated 2 younger and more hyped Japanese prospects in Hiroyasu Ehara (’91) and Yasutaka Uchiyama (’92). Moriya, who is also having a very productive 2011, took out No.2 seed Hiroki Kondo to reach the final. Both finalists will reach new career highs when the points from this tournament enter the rankings.

*ROMANIA F4: No.1 seed Adam Kellner of Hungary won his 4^th futures title of the season, defeating local veteran Victor Ionita 76 in the third set of the final. The 24-year old, who was on a 4-match losing streak after his breakthrough performance at the Ostrava challenger (reached the final coming from the qualy), improved his record to 31-6. The Hungarian wasn’t pushed too hard before the final, and eliminated surprise semi-finalist Markus Eriksson of Sweden rather easily. The ’89-born Eriksson defeated 3^rd seeded Steven Diez (‘91/CAN) in the QFs but was no match for Kellner’s experience. Ionita took out 34-year old compatriot Razvan Sabau in the other SF. Other than Eriksson, the pleasant surprise of the tournament was Romanian Darius Florin Bragusi, who made an unlikely run to the QFs before being stopped by a player twice his age (Sabau).

*SERBIA F3: Australian Matt Reid (’90) won his first title of the year, defeating former 88 in the world Croatian Roko Karanusic 60 62 in the final. The Aussie is playing his best tennis of the year, having won 11 of his last 13 futures matches. The former ITF top 20 struggled in his SF clash against Ivan Bjelica before crushing Karanusic in the final. The Croatian, trying to regain his old form, eliminated the uber-talented Bosnian Damir Dzumhur (’92) in the semis, as well as Serbia F1 winner Nicola Cacic (’90) and Serbian future star Miki Jankovic (’94). The field was loaded with young talent, proved by the fact that French sensation Gianni Mina (’92), fresh off a win in France F9, was taken out in R2 by Cacic. Another Frenchman who won a trophy the week before, Axel Michon (’90) was eliminated by Dzumhur in the QFs. Another of the hyped young-guns in the field was Finland-born Swiss Henri Laaksonen (’92), who made it to the QFs as a lucky loser, before being eliminated by the eventual champion.

*USA F16: In only his second pro tournament of the year, ’91-born American Rhyne Williams won the title, defeating Special Exempt Russian Artem Ilyushin (’91) in the final. Williams is a former ITF top 8 and currently plays for the University of Tennessee team, which explains his lack of activity in the tour. However, his talent is obvious, and he showed it throughout the week. In the semis, he had a tough clash against the fast-rising Daniel Kosakowski (’92/USA), who plays for UCLA. Ilyushin didn’t have it any easier, having to go the distance in every match after R1. In the semis he defeated another bright American prospect, Mitchell Frank (’92). ’90-born Austin Krajicek made a run to the QFs before being stop short by Ilyushin.

*VENEZUELA F6: Speaking of players with American college experience, Australian John Peers, virtually unknown until a few weeks ago, won his first professional title, defeating Venezuelan Roberto Maytin (’89) in the final. Peers is now 10-2 for the year and is one of the most unexpected success stories of 2011. What makes the final much more interesting is the fact that both Peers and Maytin played college tennis at Baylor University and were doubles partners this past year.  Peers had to once again qualify into the tournament, and once in the main draw, he had to go through players such as up and coming local star Ricardo Rodriguez (‘93/VEN) and Argentinean futures warrior Cristian Benedetti. Maytin, who isn’t as much of a newcomer (was an ITF top 25 a couple of years ago), had an amazing week which included huge wins over David Souto (‘92/VEN) and Eduardo Struvay (‘90/COL) en route to the final.  To prove how great of a week it was for Venezuelan tennis, local wild card Juan Carlos Ceballos (’92) romped his way into the QFs and gave Struvay all he could handle before losing after a brutal second set tie-breaker (16-14). One interesting fact worth mentioning is the mini-slump that No.2 seed David Souto is going through. After winning 15 straight matches in his homeland (that’s 3 titles), he’s now lost 3 out of his 4 last matches, including two R1 exits. Another interesting wrinkle of this tournament is Juan Sebastian Gomez’s disappointing R2 loss. Gomez, the year-end ITF No.1 of 2010, can’t seem to get any momentum going and is falling behind many of the region’s best ’92-born players.