Futures: Week 33

Here are the highlights:

*COLOMBIA F4: Local Eduardo Struvay (‘90/COL) continued his hot streak, defeating Alejandro Gonzalez (‘89/COL) in the final to claim his second consecutive futures title, and the third one this year. He’s now 30-13 for the year and will jump to a new career high when the new ranking is posted (somewhere around 330). This 15K tournament had such a strong field that Struvay wasn’t event seeded. Struvay defeated Brazilians Guilherme Clezar (‘92),Fabiano De Paula (the only one to take him to a third set) and Caio Zampieri (fresh off a title the previous week) en route to the final. On the opposite side of the draw, Gonzalez (the third seed), upset the talented Christian Lindell (‘91/SWE) in the semis. There’s wasn’t much room for the youngest next-wavers due to the draw’s strength, but Felipe Mantilla (‘93/COL) and Felipe Escobar (‘94/COL) both managed R1 wins.

*ITALY F24: In a battle of the top seeds, No.2 Luca Vanni defeated No.1 Josselyn Ouanna in the final to claim his first title of the season. Vanni, who reached multiple semi-finals throughout the year, jumped to 32-21 in 2011. The 26-year old Italian survived an upset attempt in R1 and then got past Stefan Siefert of Germany in the semis. Ouanna, the highly-talented (and former top 90) Frenchman, reached his first final of 2011, a very irregular year for him, since he hasn’t been able to get to the form that took him to the elite in 2009. He took Massimo Capone in the semis and reached the final without dropping a set, but wasn’t able to get past Vanni in the final. The ever-promising Kevin Botti, a former ITF top 10 a few years back, reached the QFs. The 22-year old lost to the eventual champ in straight sets.

*NETHERLANDS F5: 23-year old Antal Van der Duim won his second title of the season, defeating former top 60 Nicolas Devilder in the final. Van der Duim is having a career year in 2011, and will reach a new career high inside the top 400, surpassing his previous high mark set in 2007. He’s now 27-13 and has cut his ranking in half since the beginning of the year. He reached the final without losing a set, putting away top seed Jonathan Eysseric (’89/FRA) in the semis, before winning a thriller final in 3 sets. Devilder, the 31-year old veteran, also reached the final without losing a set, and to do it, he had to beat Julien Obry (‘91/FRA) in the QFs and Gianni Mina (‘92/FRA) in the semis.

*POLAND F7: In his return to the futures circuit, Spanish wonder-kid Javier Marti (’92) won his second title of the season, defeating German Peter Torebko in the final. Marti has been mainly playing challengers all year and even managed to qualify into the French Open. His 30-19 record is better than it seems considering the quality of matches played. He will improve his ranking to about 205, a new career high. This week, Marti lost no sets and even dismissed Gregorz Panfil, last week’s champion, in the semis. Torebko defeated Michal Schmid in the other semi-final. The only other next-waver to make it past R2 was Andrei Vasilevski (‘91/BLR), who fell to Marti in straight sets in the QFs.

*ROMANIA F8: Australian Matt Reid (’90) won his second title of the season after coming from a set down to defeat local veteran (on the comeback trail) Gabriel Moraru. Despite the age difference, both players are having incredible seasons in the futures tour. Reid is now 39-17 in 2011 and will jump about 50 spots to 330 in the world, a new career high ranking. Reid had not lost a set coming into the final, and was fresh off defeating Robert Coman (‘90/ROM) in the semis. The 29-year old Moraru took out fellow Romanian veteran Adrian Mlendea in the other semi-final. Moraru improved to 23-6 and his ranking will jump to about 450. Among the next-wavers, Darius Florin Bragusi (‘93/ROM) reached the QFs before losing to Moraru. The upset of the week was the early elimination of top seed James Duckworth (‘92/AUS), arguably the best player in the futures circuit. He fell in straight sets to Teodor-Dacian Craciun in R2.

*ARGENTINA F12: Top seed Juan Pablo Villar won his first title of the season, defeating fellow Argentine Facundo Mena (’92) in the final. The 29-year old veteran has been splitting his time between playing and coaching, which explains his irregular results and lower than expected ranking. He’s 26-10 for the year. To reach the final, he defeated 7^th seed Gabriel Hidalgo (‘90/ARG) in the semis. On the other hand, it was the first pro final for Mena. He topped Nicolas Jara Lozano in the other semi-final. Among the younger players, Juan Ignacio Amarante (‘91/ARG) reached the QFs, while Franco Agamenone (‘93/ARG) re-entered the ranking with a R1 win over Dante Gennaro (‘93/ARG).

*AUSTRIA F7: It was the second title in 3 weeks for Riccardo Bellotti (’91/ITA), who defeated German starlet Kevin Krawietz (’92) in the final to claim the crown. The young Italian has won 10 of his last 11 matches and is now 25-13 for the year. He started 2011 ranked 1152 and with these points he will rise all the way to 520, a new career high. The unseeded Bellotti cruised through the week without dropping sets, taking out 2^nd seed Anthony Dupuis in R2 and fellow Italian Filippo Leonardi in the semis. On the opposite side of the draw, top seed Krawietz improved to 36-18 for the year and despite losing the final, will get a new career high ranking, inching closer to the top 400. Krawietz defeated local Tristan-Samuel Weissborn (‘91/AUT) in the semis. Among the next-wavers, Robert Rumler (‘93/CZE) reached the QFs before losing to Weissborn.

*BELGIUM F9: French veteran Baptiste Dupuy won his first title of the season, defeating top seed Alexandre Folie (‘90/BEL) in the final. The 30-year old has had a very irregular year, improving to 15-16 for the year. Besides defeating the top seed, Dupuy toppled both of last week’s finalists in Tak Khunn Wang (‘91/FRA) and Germain Gigougnon (‘89/BEL). Folie, on the other hand, has still to win a title this year. The tall Belgian is 44-24 for the year and will rise to a new career high, but is 0-5 in finals. In the rest of the field, it was shocking to see locals Arthur de Greef (’92) and Yannick Reuter (’91) lose in R2.

*CROATIA F7: Serbian Nicola Cacic (’90) won his second title of the year after defeating Croatian Dino Marcan (’91) in the final. Cacic extended his great run of 2011, improving to 33-15 and gathering enough points to crack into the top 500 for the first time in his career. The winner advanced to the final after defeating the highly talented Damir Dzumhur (‘92/BIH) in the semis. Dzumhur had taken out last week’s winner Toni Androic (‘91/CRO) a round earlier. Marcan has been on a tear as of late too, winning 13 of his last 15, with 1 title and 2 more finals. He defeated Blaz Rola (‘90/SLO) in the semis. Among the next-wavers, a trio of Croatians earned R1 wins. ’93-born Duje Kenez and the better-known Mate Pavic were in that group along with Franco Miocic (’95), who earned his first ever ATP point.

*FINLAND F3: Richard Becker (‘91/GER) won his first title of the year, defeating top seed Timo Nieminen in the final. Becker, a former ITF top 30, has played limited tennis in 2011 but found his game this week in order to grab the trophy. Becker broke the hegemony of the select group that had been splitting all the wins in Finland over the last month. He took out No.2 seed Juho Paukku in R1 and never looked back, eliminating Jordi Samper-Montana (‘90/ESP) in the semis. The 29-year old Nieminen, brother of Jarkko, improved to 35-16 as he inches closer to his career high, set July of 2003. He took out last week’s champ Patrick Rosenholm of Sweden in the other semi-final. The only other youngster to get past R2 was Alessandro Bega (‘91/ITA) who lost in the QFs to the eventual champ.

*GERMANY F12: 27-year old Austrian Johannes Ager doesn’t play much, but when he does he wins. This week, in his 3^rd tournament of the season, he clinched his second title, defeating local top seed Denis Bloemke in a 3-set final. Ager is now 10-1 this year. He got past Nils Langer (’90/GER) in the semis, and got to the final without dropping a set. In the other semi-final Bloemke defeated Raphael Lustenberger of Switzerland. The tournament was marked by the early elimination of some very talented youngsters. Renzo Olivo (‘92/ARG), Pierre-Hughes Herbert (‘91/FRA) and Sami Reinwein (‘92/GER) were all eliminated in R2.

*MEXICO F9: Local veteran Miguel Gallardo-Valles won his second title of the season, defeating Australian Chris Letcher in the final. The 30-year old improved to 30-10 and reached the final after defeating last week’s champ Marcel Felder of Uruguay in a 3-set thriller ending with a third set tie-breaker. For Letcher it was his best showing of the year, as he tries to get back to his career high ranking set in 2004. He took out Adam El Mihdawy from the USA, who happened to be the other finalist from the previous week. Among the next-wavers, Marcelo Arevalo (‘90/ESA) and Darian King (‘92/BAR) reached the QFs before being eliminated. Also, American Sahak Bazrganian (’93) obtained his first ATP point while Jeson Patrombon (‘93/PHI) also advanced to R2.  

*PERU F3: Former Junior Roland Garros champion Agustin Velotti (‘92/ARG) seems to be in breakout mode, winning his second consecutive title and third of the season. Velotti, a former ITF top 3, defeating fellow class-of-’92 Duilio Beretta (PER) in the final. The diminutive Argentinean is now 31-9 for the year and will crack the top 400 for the first time in his career. He cruised through the week without dropping a set, including the dismantling of talented compatriot Guido Pella (‘90/ARG) in the semis, whom he beat 61 60. Beretta showed some great potential too, losing only 2 games to top seed Cristobal Saavedra-Corvalan (‘90/CHI) in the semis. Both Velotti and Beretta showed that they are ready to move to the challenger tour, and added their names to a list of player born in 1992 that will be dominating the ATP tour over the next decade (a list that includes Tomic, Arguello, Duckworth, Marti, Kovalik, Mitchell, Dzumhur and others). Among the younger guns, Jorge Brian Panta Herreros (‘95/PER) obtained points for the third week in a row, while fellow Peruvian Ismael Merino (‘93/PER) also entered the ranking with a R1 win.

*RUSSIA F7: 25-year old Andrey Kumantsov won his first title of the year, defeating Richard Muzaev (‘92/RUS) in the final. The winner has been having a down year, as he improved to 18-12 due to playing lots of challengers and ATP qualifiers. He won the tournament without dropping a set, showing why he was the top seed. He was up 5-0 in the semis when Vitali Reshetnikov retired. Muzaev, for his part, reached his first final of the year but is still 10-17 in 2011. He has to defend an important number of points until the end of the year, so this performance comes at the right time to give him confidence for the rest of the season. As the third seed, Muzaev reached the final after defeating Mikhail Fufygin (‘90/RUS) in the semis. Among the younger players of the draw, ’91-born Russian trio of Artem Ilyushin, Stanislav Vovk and Yury Vaschenko made it to the QFs before being eliminated.  

*SERBIA F8: 27-year old local Ivan Bjelica won his first future title of the season after defeating Goran Tosic of Montenegro in the final. It was a dream week for Bjelica as he won the title without dropping a set and took out the top seed Aljaz Bedene (‘89/SLO) in the semis. He’s now 25-18 for the year. Tosic took out surprise semi-finalist Marco Cecchinato (’92/ITA) to get to the Serbian. The young Italian had upset 2^nd seed Miljan Zekic in the QFs. Among the next-wavers, Dimitar Kuzmanov (‘93/BUL) reached the QFs before losing to Bedene. However, the shock of the tournament was the end of Michael Linzer’s 16-match winning streak. The Austrian lost to Arsenije Zlatanovic of Serbia in R2 after winning his last 3 future events.

*SPAIN F30: 28-year old Miguel Angel Lopez-Jaen won his first tournament of the season, defeating surprise finalist Ivan Arenas-Gualda (‘90/ESP) in the final. The veteran has played a lot of tennis this year, and improved his record to 24-25. It’s worth mentioning that at one point earlier this year Lopez-Jaen lost 8 matches in a row over a span of more than 2 months. This week, Lopez-Jaen survived a pair of early 3-set matches and then took out up and coming Venezuelan Ricardo Rodriguez (’93) in the semis to reach the final. Arenas-Gualda is having a career year and reached his first final after taking out Roberto Ortega-Olmedo (‘91/ESP) in the semis. Arenas-Gualda was also responsible for eliminating a pair of well-known next-wavers. He took out Taro Daniel (‘93/JPN) in R2 and then Andres Artunedo-Martinavarr (‘93/ESP) in the QFs. Artunedo-Martinavarr had taken out top seed David Rice in R2.

Futures: Week 32

Here are the week’s highlights:

*BRAZIL F26: In only his third futures event of the year, Brazilian Caio Zampieri obtained his first title, defeating the up and coming Guilherme Clezar (‘92/BRA) 76 76 in the final. Zampieri has spent most of the year playing at the challenger level (with some ATP sprinkled here and there), which explains his 16-13 record for the year. However, after falling short in the QFs last week, this time he put his talent and experience to work en route to winning the title without dropping a set. He defeated last week’s runner up Marcelo Demoliner in the QFs, and then took out the surprise of the tournament, Bruno Sant’Anna (‘93/BRA) in the semis. Sant’Anna, currently ranked 21 in ITF, has had some interesting results in the pro ranks, and he’s a name to keep an eye on for the upcoming season. Clezar, the runner-up, had a very good too, taking out 2^nd seed Christian Lindell (‘91/SWE) in the QFs and the experienced Tiago Lopes in the semis. The disappointing performance of the week came at the hands of top seed Gastao Elias (‘90/POR). The Portuguese is having a career year but was shocked by Fabricio Neis (‘90/BRA) in R2.

*COLOMBIA F3: Local Eduardo Struvay (‘90/COL) won his second title of the season, defeating Chilean Guillermo Rivera-Aranguiz in the final. The young Colombian improved to 25-13 with the win and will use the points to jump back inside the top 400 players in the world, in what is turning out to be his career year. Struvay survived a R1 upset attempt in the hands of Felipe Soares (‘92/BRA), and after pulling up a 3-set victory went on to win the title without dropping another set. He defeated New Zealander (Russian born) Artem Sitak to reach the final. His final victim, Rivera-Aranguiz is also having a career year, finally seeming to put together a streak that was expected a few years back due to his successful run in the juniors (ranked 13^th in ITF in 2007). Rivera is 21-8 now and will jump to a new career high inside the top 250. There weren’t many surprises in the tournament as all 8 seeds made it to the QFs. Among the next-wavers, Brazilian Guilherme Hadlich (‘94/BRA) earned a WC into the main draw after winning an ITF event the week before, and turned it into his first ever ATP point after defeating fellow unranked Felipe Rojas (‘94/COL).

*ITALY F23: There are few adjectives left to describe James Duckworth’s run through the futures circuit in 2011, his first full season as a pro. Duckworth (’92/AUS) defeating local Daniele Giorgini in straight sets in the final to take his 4^th title of the season. He improved to 38-10 and will be inside the top 300 next week. On top of that, he avenged a loss to Giorgini in an Italian future a few months back. Duckworth, the second seed, defeating fellow promising Australian Jason Kubler (’93) in the QFs, and lost his only set of the week in the semis against the very talented Argentinean Renzo Olivo (’92). Duckworth is one of those names to watch next season because if he continues this meteoric rise (was ranked 775 at the end of 2010) he could possibly break into the top 100 before the end of 2012. Giorgini on the other hand, defeated Jose Statham of New Zealand to reach the final. The upset of the tournament came at the hands of fast-rising Matt Reid (‘90/AUS), who took out last week’s champ Andres Molteni of Argentina in straight sets in R2.

*ROMANIA F7: If there was an award for comeback player of the year at the futures level it would already be in Gabriel Moraru’s hands. The 29-year old Romanian retired from the pros for a few years, and came back to the game in late April. Now he’s on a 10-match winning streak after defeating Petru-Alexandru Luncanu (‘89/ROM) in the final and taking his second consecutive title. Moraru is now 19-5 for the year. He survived against fellow veteran Romanian Razvan Sabau in the QFs (14-12 in the deciding tie-break) and then took out top seed Alexandre Folie (‘90/BEL) in the semis. Luncanu reached the final after defeating current ITF No.1 Jiri Vesely (’93/CZE) in the semis. A trio of next-wavers achieved R1 wins, among them Vasile-Alexandru Ghilea (‘93/ROM), Dragos Constantin Ignat (‘93/COL) and Maxim Dubarenco (‘93/MDA). It was the first ever ATP point for the Moldavian.

*RUSSIA F6: 24-year old local Evgeny Kirilov won his first futures title of the year after defeating fellow Russian Ivan Nedelko in the final of this 15K + H event. He improved to 18-13 in 2011, a year in which he’s mixed in futures and challenger events. Kirilov finally got past Stanislav Vovk (‘91/RUS) in the QFs after Vovk had eliminated early the last 2 weeks. He then took out the promising Andrey Kuznetsov (‘91/RUS), a former ITF No.3 and junior Wimbledon champ, in the semis. The 25-year old Nedelko reached the final after taking out Valery Rudnev in the semis. Nedelko is 38-23 for the year, the best in his career so far. Among the next-wavers, Maxim Lunkin (‘94/RUS) obtained his second ATP point with a R1 win over Sergei Krotiouk. He was then eliminated by the eventual champion.

*SPAIN F29: 25-year old Frenchman Mathieu Rodrigues won his second title of the season after defeating Carlos Calderon-Rodrigues 64 63 in the final. Rodrigues, who lost to Dino Marcan in the final of Serbia F6 last week, will use both performances to rise to a new career high at or around the 300^th spot in the ranking. With the win he is now 30-17 in 2011. He had to navigate a draw full of potential-laden players, taking out Marc Giner (’91/ESP), Hiroyasu Ehara (‘91/JPN) and Roberto Carballes-Baena (‘93/ESP) just to reach the final. This last one was the only one to take a set out of him all week. Calderon-Rodrigues had to fight past Andres Artunedo Martinavarr (‘93/ESP) to reach the final. It was a great week for the next-wavers, especially for those born in 1993. Besides Carballes and Artunedo, Taro Daniel (JPN) and Ricardo Rodriguez (VEN) also reached the QFs. 16-year old Brazilian WC Yuri Andrade (‘95/BRA) earned his first ATP point with a R1. The major disappointment of the tournament was David Souto (‘92/VEN)’s early elimination. He lost in R2 to Artunedo Martinavarr.

*ARGENTINA F11: It was a very strange week in Argentina, as the veterans took over in a place where the kids rule. 26-year old Leandro Migani came back to the tour after in April after a 10 month absence and a few months later obtained his first title of the season, all while coming from the qualy. He defeated fellow veteran of the futures circuit Alejandro Fabbri in the final. Migani reached the final after defeating unranked Italian Francesco Garzelli (’91), the young surprise of the tournament, in the semis. Fabbri got through yet another Argentinean veteran, Juan Manuel Valverde, to reach the final. It clearly wasn’t a good week for the next-wavers, with the exception of Mauricio Perez Mota (‘93/ARG) and Mateo Cressa (’93) who advanced to R2. For Cressa, it was his first ATP point.

*AUSTRIA F6: 21-year old Czech Michal Konecny won his first title of the season after defeating experienced Spaniard Oscar Sabate in a 3-set final. The former ITF No.2 improved to 29-18 and will jump to a new career high inside the top 500 in the world. To reach the final, he defeated local Tristan-Samuel Weissborn (‘91/AUT) in the semis. Sabate got through Italian Antonio Comporto to reach the final. Comporto had eliminated top seed Romain Vogeli in the QFs. The only other youngster to make any significant noise throughout the week was Philip Lang (‘90/AUT), who reached the QFs before losing to Konecny.

*BELGIUM F8: 22-year old local Germain Gigougnon was yet another player this week to win his first title of the season, defeating Frenchman Tak Khunn Wang (’91) in the final. The Belgian has been having an irregular year (improved to 16-12 in 2011), which started in mid-April after a 6 month layoff. Regardless, Gigougnon has been steadily showing improvement which led to his coronation. With the win he hopes to surpass his previous career high of 602 within the next few weeks. He only dropped one set during the week and it came in the semis against the very promising Arthur De Greef (‘92/BEL). The 19-year old Wang has played a lot of tennis in 2011 (29-21) and although he will likely end the year ranked higher than at the end of 2010, it can be said that more was expected out of him. Wang defeated Marco Dierckx in the semis. The surprise of the week came at the hands of relatively unknown Dutchman Alban Meuffels (’92), who reached the QFs after taking out 2^nd seed Guillermo Hormazabal of Chile.

*CROATIA F6: Top seed Toni Androic (’91/CRO) won his third title of the season after defeating fellow rising Croatian Dino Marcan (‘91/CRO) in the final, avenging a loss in the final of Armenia F1. Androic is now 37-11 and will be inside the top 400 next week, along with sitting at a new career high. The champion did not drop a set all week and along with Marcan, he is a player to keep a close eye on for the upcoming season. He easily dismantled 3^rd seed Tomislav Brkic (‘90/BIH) in the semis, only losing 3 games. Marcan, the second seed, defeated Blaz Rola (‘90/SLO) in the other semi-final. Among the next-wavers, 16-year old Filip Veger (‘94/CRO) obtained his first ATP point with a R1 win over Franko Miocic (‘95/CRO).

*FINLAND F2: Patrick Rosenholm is definitely one of the best newcomers of the year, in the sense that he came virtually out of nowhere to establish himself as one of the better players in the futures circuit. The 23-year old Swede won his third title of the year (his previous 2 were in India) after defeating fellow unheralded Vladimir Ivanov of Estonia in the final. Rosenholm, who finished 2010 ranked 1739, is now 29-9 and will crack the top 500 for the first time in his career next week. He defeated Jordi Samper-Montana (‘90/ESP) in the semis. Samper-Montana had taken out top seed Timo Nieminen one round earlier. For the 24-year old Ivanov it has also been a career year. He entered the ranking for the first time in 2006 but had failed to crack the top 1000 up until this year. He is now 12-3 over his last 3 tournaments, losing in the final all 3 times. He defeated the more talented and hyped Jan-Frederik Brunken (‘90/GER) in the semis. The only other next-waver of significance was Sam Barry (‘92/IRL), who reached the QFs before losing to the eventual champ.

*GERMANY F11: 25-year old German Steven Moneke is literally on fire. He won his second title of the year after defeating Nils Langer (‘90/GER) in the final, and has now won 14 of his last 15 matches during the last 3 weeks. The winner is obviously in the best stretch of his career, moving to 24-11 for the year. The win will deposit him at the doorstep of the top 500. He also didn’t drop a set all week. In the semis, he defeated the surprise of the tournament, Kevin Kaczynski (‘94/GER). The 17-year old German, who isn’t even in the ITF top 100 at the moment, took a WC into the main draw and took full advantage of playing guys with rankings outside the top 1000. Langer reached the final after defeating the unseeded Michel Dornbusch (‘90/GER) in the semis. It should be said that Moneke was the only player in the QFs who was born before 1990, making it a great week for the next-wavers. Langer had also taken out 2^nd seed Kevin Krawietz (’92/GER), the top prospect in the country. Fellow Germans Marko Lenz (’91), Ralf Steinbach (’92) and David Thurner (’90) were the other players to reach the QFs.

*MEXICO F8: Uruguayan veteran Marcel Felder won his 5^th title of the season after defeating Adam El Mihdawy of the United States in the final. It was the third title in Mexican territory for Felder, who has been on a tear this year (39-12). However, his success has come against week competition and his age suggests that this might be close to his ceiling. His performance the last 2 weeks will catapult him to the doorstep of the top 300, getting him in challenger range with very few points to defend until the end of the year. It is my guess that it’s now or never for Felder to make a mark in a sport in which he was supposed to be much better, at least based on his performance at the junior level. Felder, who did not drop a set all week, defeated top seed Daniel Garza in the semis. El Mihdawy reached the final after defeating 37-year old Cuban Lazaro Navarro-Battles, who had been unranked since 2009. It was also a very positive week for a pair of next-wavers, as Luis Patino (‘93/MEX) and Roberto Cid (‘93/USA) reached the QFs. Patino entered the ranking for the first time.

*PERU F2: Argentinean starlet Agustin Velotti (’92) won his second title of the season, defeating top seed Cristobal Saavedra-Corvalan (‘90/CHI) in the final. Velotti, a former junior Roland Garros champion, did not drop a set all week. He is now 26-9 in 2011 and will be inside the top 400 next week, a new career high for him. Velotti didn’t face much competition until the final, easily dismantling local Sergio Galdos (‘90/PER) in the semis. Saavedra-Corvalan had a much rockier road, having to fight 3-set battles against Guido Pella (‘90/ARG) in the QFs and Martin Cuevas (‘92/URU) in the semis. Saavedra is now 35-15 and will rise to a new career high very close to the top 300. Among the next-wavers, Bolivian Boris Arias (’93) obtained his second ATP point while Peruvian wonder-kid Jorge Brian Panta-Herreros (’95) won another won another R1 match to add one more point to his collection. The upset of the week was Andrea Collarini’s R1 loss to Joaquin Monteferrario, not because of the opponent, but because he showed great form the previous week, taking the title in Argentina F10.

*POLAND F6: 23-year old top seed Gregorz Panfil won his first title of the season after defeating fellow Pole Mateusz Szmigiel 62 62 in the final. Panfil is now 26-15 in 2011, a subpar year for him since the title will only get him back to the ranking he had at the beginning of the season, and some 200 spots lower than his career high. He defeated Andriej Kapas in the semis, while Szmigiel took out Dawid Celt to round up an all-Polish SF. Among the next-wavers, Libor Salaba (‘92/CZE) reached the QFs while Mark Richards (‘93/AUS) and Arkadiusz Kocyla (‘93/POL) made it to R2. It was the first ATP point for Kocyla.

*SERBIA F7: 21-year old Austrian Michael Linzer won is 4^th title of the season, defeating Denes Lukacs of Hungary in the final. The champion, who won’t be flying under the radar for much longer, is now on a 15-match winning streak after winning back to back futures events in Turkey in July. He is now 35-11 for the year, and will rise to a new career high ranking of 350 next week. Despite not having an illustrious junior career, Linzer has been steadily improving his ranking year after year and is definitely a name to follow for next season. To reach the final he easily dismantled top seed Miljan Zekic of Serbia, who is having a career year too. Lukacs, the 24-year old runner-up, defeated Nicola Cacic (‘90/SRB) in the other semi-final. For the next-wavers, it was a very good week, as ’94-born Serbian pair Pedja Krstin and Miki Jankovic both advanced to the QFs. Jankovic achieved an impressive straight sets victory over Bosnian starlet Damir Dzumhur (’92), who was back on tour after almost 2 months.  

*SLOVAK REPUBLIC F3: 24-year old Czech Marek Michalicka won his first title of the season after defeating Daniel Lustig in the final. Michalicka is now on the tour full time after graduating from the University of Wisconsin, where he played for 4 years. After starting the season in late June, he has amassed a 14-6 record with a title and a final appearance. He will rise to a career high ranking right outside the top 600. It was definitely another frustrating week for Slovakians, as the 2 heavy favorites (and top seeds) were upset in the semis. Norbert Gombos (‘90/SVK) lost to Michalicka while Jozef Kovalik (‘92/SVK) fell to Lustig. Among the other next-wavers to leave their mark, Filip Vittek (‘93/SVK) and Henri Laaksonen (‘92/SUI) both reached the QFs.

Futures: Week 31

Here are the highlights:

*ITALY F22: In what seemed like an All-Star draw of next-wavers, Argentinean Andres Molteni won his second futures title of the year after defeating up and coming local Alessandro Giannessi (’90) 75 64 in the final. Molteni, who won a challenger in Ecuador early this year, proved that his talent exceeds the level of competition at the futures circuit. He’s now 28-15 for the year, but the majority of his matches came at the challenger level. This week, he crushed 15-year old future star Gianluigi Quinzi (ITA) in R1 and then easily dismissed former ITF No.1 Jonathan Eysseric (‘89/FRA) in the QFs. To set up the match with Giannessi, he had to tough out a 3-setter against the tournament’s surprise, qualifier Antonio Comorto (‘89/ITA). On the other side of the draw, Giannessi defeated Sami Reinwein (’92/GER), Toni Androic (‘91/CRO) and James Ducksworth (’92/AUS) en route to the final. One other surprise during the week was Cesar Ramirez’s trip to the QFs. The ever promising 21-year old Mexican (once ITF No.3) defeated Gianluca Naso (ranked about 300 spots higher) in 3 sets in R2.

*KAZAKHSTAN F5: Indian Karan Rastogi claimed his second futures title of the year after defeating Mohamed Safwat (‘90/EGY) in the final. Rastogi, once ranked 4^th in ITF, is 21-9 for the year as he tried to get back into the top 300 in the world. To reach the final, Rastogi took out Roman Jebavy (‘89/CZE) in straights in the semis. Safwat was vying for his first title of the season and despite falling short, improved to 25-12. He defeated Arata Onozawa of Japan to the reach the final. There weren’t many surprised this week as all 8 seeds advanced to the QFs. However, locals Daniiar Duldaev (’92) and Kairat Kosherov (’91) obtained their first ATP points.

*POLAND F5: Top seed Dusan Lojda (CZE) cruised through the field en route to his second futures title of the year, after defeating local Piotr Gadomski (’91) in the final. Like Molteni in Italy, Lojda left the challenger tour for a week to play against inferior competition in a points-rich 15k tournament. It showed as he didn’t lose a set all week. The 23-year old former Jr. US Open champ improved to 23-15 and will jump back into the top 200 thanks to this victory. To reach the final he defeated 5^th seed Marcin Gawron, a former rival at the junior level. The unseeded Gadomski pulled a few upsets en route to the final, including a 3-setter against 2^nd seed Jan Mertl.

*RUSSIA F5: Qualifier Nick Van der Meer stunned everyone as he won his first title of the season, defeating Russian Andrey Kumantsov in the final. The Dutchman, who’s barely played the last 2 years, won big in his third futures event of the year. En route to winning this points-heavy 15K + H tourney, the 26-year old upset 2^nd seed Ilya Belyaev (‘90/RUS) in R1 and then Alexander Rumyantsev (’92) in the semis. Kumantsov had an upset of his own too, taking out top seed Denis Matsukevitch in the QFs. He later defeated Mikhail Fufygin (‘90/RUS) in the semis. Among the next-wavers, 16-year old Maxim Lunkin (‘94/RUS) obtained his maiden ATP point with a R1 win over Artem Ilyushin (‘91/RUS).

*SPAIN 28: Rising star Pablo Carreno-Busta (’91/ESP) won his 3^rd futures title of the season, defeating Argentinean veteran Martin Alund in a much contested 3-set final. The young Spaniard took a wild card into the tournament to be the top seed and heavy favorite, considering he won his first challenger event earlier this year. His supremacy and talent were easily seen, as he dismissed very good futures-level players like Antal Van der Duim in the QFs and Roberto Carballes-Baena (‘93/ESP) in the semis, both in straight sets. It wasn’t until he met the 26-year old Alund that he found some resistance. Carreno-Busta improved to 39-11 and will reach a new career high thanks to this title. He is having yet another career year and is a very good candidate to crack the top 100 by year’s end. Alund had a less smooth week, winning 3 of his matches in 3 sets and losing his 4^th one in the final. He was vying for his 6^th title of the season, one in which he’s 35-6. Among the young guns, Ricardo Ojeda Lara and Oriol Roca Batalla, both ’93-born Spaniards, obtained 1 point each after R1 wins.

*ARGENTINA F10: It was the return of the prodigal son as Andrea Collarini (‘92/USA) won his first ever pro title with a straight sets win over local Patricio Heras (’89). Collarini, born in the United States but raised in Argentina since he was a child, took a USTA scholarship to train in Florida and play under the American flag. However, since making the switch, the former Jr. French Open finalist had seen his growth stopped. Compared to fellow ’92-borns like Facundo Arguello and Diego Schwartzman (both of whom are already competing at the challenger level), Collarini entered the week ranked 761. His talent can’t be denied obviously, as he cruised through the week without dropping a set. En route to the final, he dismissed top seed Sebastian Decoud, a player ranked 500 spots higher in the ranking and who was once in the top 150. Heras, the 4^th seed, reached the final after upsetting Schwartzman (‘92/ARG) in a 3-set semi-final. Among the younger players, Tomas Lipovsek Puches (‘93/ARG) obtained his first ever ATP point with a R1 win.

*AUSTRIA F5: Italian Riccardo Bellotti (’91) obtained his first futures title after upsetting top seed Alexander Flock in the final. Bellotti had cruised to the final without dropping a set and managed to take care of the German veteran in the third set. The Italian is now 20-12 and will reach a new career high inside the top 700. It was a very impressive week, as he also took out the 4^th (Oscar Sabate) and 2^nd (Michal Konecky) seeds just to get to the final. Flock defeated Italian qualifier Marco Bella to reach the final. The surprise of the week was Frenchman Yanais Laurent (’92), an unranked qualifier who made a run to the QFs which including an upset win over 8^th seed Bastian Trinker (‘90/AUT). Also, the ’93-born trio of Mate Pavic (CRO), Robin Kern (GER) and Michael Eibl (AUT) made R2 appearances after first rounds wins.

*BELGIUM F7: The 4^th one was the charm for young Belgian Yannick Reuter (’91), who won his first title of the season after losing his previous 3 finals. He defeated top seed Alexandre Folie (‘90/BEL) in the final. He improved to 28-16 in 2011 and will be very close to cracking the top 500 in the next few weeks. In an all-Belgium semi-finals, Reuter defeated Gaetan De Lovinfosse (’90) while Folie took out Germain Gigougnon (’89). Despite losing in the final, Folie will rise to a new career high inside the top 400 next week. Among the next-wavers, a pair of young Frenchman earned valuable points, as both Armel Rancezot (’94) and Tristan Lamasine (’93) logged R1 wins.

*BRAZIL F25: Local Ricardo Hocevar continued this week’s streak of top seed triumphs, taking the title over unseeded Marcelo Demoliner (’89) in the final. The 26-year old former 149 in the world had a rocky road to the title, barely squeezing by teenager Thiago Moura Monteiro (‘94/BRA) in 3 sets in R1 and surviving another 3-set thriller in the QFs vs. Tiago Lopes. Hocevar then went on to defeat the surprise of the tournament, Joao Pedro Sorgi (‘93/BRA), who rode a wild card all the way to the semis, upsetting Eladio Ribeiro Neto and Caio Zampieri along the way. Demoliner had a great week too, upsetting Tiago Fernandes (‘93/BRA), Christian Lindell (‘91/SWE) and Rafael Camilo (‘90/BRA) to reach the final. Among the younger players, Raul Francisquiny (‘93/BRA) reached the second round after qualifying into the main draw, therefore obtaining his 3^rd ATP point.

*ECUADOR F5: Uruguayan veteran Marcel Felder won his 4^th title of the season after defeating local player Ivan Endara in the final. The 27-year old former ITF No.4 improved to 34-12 for the year as he tries to make the much awaited jump to the challenger level. To reach the final he benefited from Guido Andreozzi (’91/ARG)’s retirement due to dehydration in the QFs, and then came back from a set down against another Argentinean, 6^th seed Christian Benedetti. Endara took out the 1^st (Alejandro Gonzalez) and 3^rd (Julio Cesar Campozano) seeds to reach the final but couldn’t hold a one set lead over Felder in the final. Among the next-wavers, Juan Ignacio Londero (‘93/ARG) and Bernardo Casares (‘94/ECU) logged R1 wins.

*FINLAND F1: Veteran Finn Timo Nieminen was yet another top seed to finish the week lifting a trophy, thanks to his win over Estonian Vladimir Ivanov in the final. The 29-year old was coming on the heels of underwhelming performances as the favorite in a handful of futures tournaments, but this week he made his talent and experience count towards clinching the win. Nieminen, who reached a career high ranking of 254 over 8 years ago will be very close to that ranking thanks to his win this week. He also improved to 29-14 for the year. En route to the final, Nieminen also defeated Micke Kontinen (‘92/FIN) and Jordi Samper-Montana (‘90/ESP). Ivanov, the runner-up, logged his second consecutive final appearance, after losing to Chilean Hans Podlipnik-Castillo in the final of Lithuania F1 last week. The 24-year old will crack the top 1000 for the first time in his career next week. He proved he can win at the futures level with wins over Jan-Frederik Brunken (‘90/GER) in the QFs and Juho Paukku, the 2^nd seed, in the semis. Italian Alessandro Bega (’91/ITA) was the only other youngster to reach the QFs, losing to Paukku at that stage.

*GERMANY F10: Top seed Denis Bloemke won his first title of the season after defeating last week’s champ Steven Moneke in the final. The 22-year old winner didn’t find much resistance until the final, as Moneke was the only one to take a set from him all week. Bloemke is 15-6 in limited action in 2011. He defeated 3^rd seed Romain Vogeli of the Czech Republic to reach the final, while Moneke took out Richard Waite (‘90/GER) in the other SF. Among the next-wavers, ’93-born Germans Constantin Christ and Matthias Wunner, along with ’94-born Swiss Alexander Ritschard obtained ATP points due to R1 wins.

*LATVIA F1: In the week of the top seeds, Italian Claudio Grassi didn’t want to be less than many of his counterparts around the globe. The 26-year old ambidextrous won his second title of the season, defeating up and coming Frenchman Pierre-Hughes Herbert (’91) in the final. He improved to 30-18 in 2011 and will surpass his career high ranking of 325 next week thanks to this win. To reach the final he defeated 22-year old Dzmitry Zhyrmont of Belarus in 3 sets. Herbert, the runner-up, will also jump to a new career high, right on the doorstep of the top 400. He defeated local Deniss Pavlovs in the semis. Pavlovs had eliminated Chilean Hans Podlipnik-Castillo in the QFs, ending his 12-match winning streak.

*PERU F1: 22-year old Argentinean Maximiliano Estevez won his first title of the year, upsetting local favorite and rising star Duilio Beretta (’92) in 2 tie-breakers in the final. The unseeded and unexpected champion took out top seed Chilean Cristobal Saavedra-Corvalan (’90) in the semis and rode the momentum into the final. He improved to 9-10 for the year, a record that doesn’t reflect his talent level, which took him to the doorstep of the top 600 a little over a year ago. With the win he’ll be close to reaching a new career high ranking. Beretta took out the highly talented Guido Pella (‘90/ARG) in 3 sets in the other semi-final. Without doubts, the surprise of the tournament was wunder-kid Jorge Brian Panta-Herreros. The ’95-born Peruvian, currently ITF No.94, qualified into the main draw and then proceeded to upset 3^rd seed Mauricio Echazu in R1 and Chilean Felipe Fritz (’93) in R2. He was eliminated in the QFs by the eventual champion.

*SERBIA F6: Croatian Dino Marcan (’91) won his second title of the season after defeating Frenchman Mathieu Rodrigues in the final. The 4^th seed improved to 23-16 for the year and will jump to a new career high around 450 next week. To reach the final Marcan took out top seed Adam Kellner of Hungary in a 3-set thriller. Meanwhile, Rodrigues also took out a Hungarian, defeating Denes Lukacs. Among the next-wavers, Karim-Mohamed Mamoun (‘91/EGY) reached the QFs, while Serbians Miki Jankovic (‘94) and Pedja Krstin (’94) advanced to R2.

*SLOVAK REPUBLIC F2: Next-waver extraordinaire Jozef Kovalik (’92/SVK) won the second title of his short career after defeating veteran Daniel Lustig of the Czech Republic. Kovalik had to work overtime throughout the week, playing 13 sets in 5 matches. He advanced to the final after top seed Kamil Capkovic retired during the third set of their semi-final match. Kovalik is 34-15 in 2011, his first full year as a pro, and will be inside the top 500 next week. Slovakians were deprived of a dream final, as 2^nd seed Norbert Gombos (‘90/SVK) lost to Lustig in the other semi-final. The tournament had the presence of most of the top Eastern-European next-wavers, making it very interesting to follow. Current ITF No.1 and Jr. Australian Open winner Jiri Vesely (‘93/CZE) advanced to the QFs before losing to Gombos in straight sets. Moreover, former ITF No.1 and Jr. Wimbledon champ Marton Fucsovics also advanced to the QFs, where he lost to Lustig.

*TURKEY F23: Top seed Riccardo Ghedin won his first tournament of the year after defeating the ever promising Aussie Brydan Klein (’89) in the final. Ghedin, who has spent most of the year playing challengers, improved to 19-12 in 2011. He didn’t lose a set all week and defeated 3^rd seed Rudy Coco in the semis. Klein, on the other hand, is now at 18-20 for the year and has a great amount of points to defend until the end of the year. The young Aussie, a former ITF No.4 and Jr. Australian Open champ, has been very inconsistent this year, having failed to return to the challenger level and struggling mightily at the futures. This week he notched solid victories over Alexander Ward (‘90/GBR) and Patrick Rosenholm (SWE), which should give him confidence for the upcoming tournaments.

*USA F22: No.2 seed Blake Strode won his second title of the year after defeating unseeded surprise finalist Evan King (’92/USA) in the final. The 24-year old Strode is now 24-14 in 2011. He will jump to a new career high ranking next week, as he inches closer to the top 400. To reach the final, Strode defeated fellow American Jeff Dadamo (’89) in the semis.  On the top part of the draw, King made the most out of his wild card and the early elimination of top seed Clement Reix. King faced no seeds until the final, but took out John-Patrick Smith (‘89/AUS) and unranked qualifier Mousheg Hovhannisyan (’91/USA), the surprise of the tournament. Among the young-guns, Americans Chase Buchanan (’91) and Devin Britton (’92) both reached the QFs.