FLORIDA’S @STEFANKOZLOV OPENS WITH BIG WIN AT SO CAL PRO FUTURES TOURNAMENT
LOS ANGELES (Jan. 6, 2015) – Unseeded 16-year-old Stefan Kozlov opened up first-round play at the USTA Pro Circuit $15,000 Southern California Futures Tournament with an easy 6-1, 6-0 victory over No. 7-seeded Joshua Milton of Great Britain on Tuesday at the Marks Tennis Stadium on the campus of USC.
Kozlov, who has turned pro, finished 2014 as the No. 3-ranked ITF junior player in the world and reached both the Wimbledon and the Australian Open junior final in 2014, as well as the junior quarterfinals at the US Open and the French Open.
In December of 2014, the Pembroke Pines, Fla., resident Kozlov also won the prestigious Orange Bowl singles and doubles titles.
In the upset of the day, wild card Taylor Fritz of Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., downed top-seeded and former UCLA All-American Dennis Novikov, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 7-5.
Playing 45 miles from his hometown of Thousand Oaks, former four-year University of Washington star Kyle McMorrow opened up first-round play with a 4-6, 7-6 (0), 6-1, win over Switzerland’s Sandro Ehrat.
In a battle between wild cards, USC’s Eric Johnson got past Stanford’s Tom Fawcett, 6-4, 7-5.
In a battle of qualifiers, former UCLA standout Clay Thompson outlasted North Carolina’s Ronnie Scheinder, 5-7, 7-6 (3), 6-1.
The tournament announced that reigning NCAA singles champion Marcos Giron had pulled out of the event, but was scheduled to play next week’s USTA $15,000 Futures event at the El Dorado Park Tennis Center in Long Beach.
For more information including draws and schedules, check out procircuit.usta.com. For more information on the Southern California Tennis Academy run by Smith and Mitch Bridge, go to sctennisacademy.com.
With practically all the good Italian players placed in the top half of the draw, a home country finalist was likely, although the eventual player to make it was not first seed Paolo Lorenzi. Potito Starace had the honor to play the final after ousting Lorenzi in a marathon match: 5-7 7-5 6-4. This meant his first top 100 victory since beating Kenny De Schepper in QR1 of Monte Carlo in April.
With Lorenzi at 32 years of age and Starace 33 this looked to be a tournament for the veterans, a trend that got confirmed in the bottom half, where Albert Montanes (33) and Daniel Gimeno-Traver (29) took on each other. They already had an extensive history of playing each other, with the head to head being dead even at 3-3. Their last meeting at Viña del Mar last year ended in a 6-4 6-4 victory for Gimeno-Traver. Things were different this time around, however, as Montanes took home the match in three sets: 6-7(4) 7-5 6-2.
This set up a repeat of last week’s match between Montanes and Starace in the first round of the San Marino Challenger, where Montanes booked a relatively easy victory: 6-2 7-6(3). This week’s final followed a similar pattern as Montanes crowned himself the 2014 Cordenons champion with a 6-2 6-4 victory. The final only meant a minor jump of five ranking spots for Starace, as he reached the semi-final last year, he now is ranked #156. For Montanes the jump was more significant, as he rose twenty spots to #114.
One thing is for sure: nobody predicted the Meerbusch winner correctly. The tournament began on a negative note with the match fixing scandal between Boy Westerhof and Antal van der Duim, which is currently being investigated by the Tennis Integrity Unit. More details on that are surely to come. The only top 100 player in the draw, top seed Albert Ramos, got upset in the first round by Mattias Bachinger in straight sets: 6-4 7-6(4). The other clear favorite to reach the final, Andrey Kuznetsov, didn’t disappoint as he made it. However, he was the only seeded player to reach the semi-finals as he was joined by #340 Jozef Kovalik, #289 Tristan Lamasine and #259 Peter Torebko, making Kuznetsov obviously the clear favorite with his 108th ranking spot.
However, it was 21 year old wild card Kovalik who absolutely crushed Kuznetsov in the final, winning 6-1 6-4. Amazingly enough he only dropped one set the entire tournament and even that match was a comfortable win: 2-6 6-2 6-0. This obviously resulted in a major ranking jump, as he rose 105 spots to #235, only five shy of his career high ranking of #230. Kuznetsov had some consolation as well, as he re-entered the top 100 at #97, a jump of eleven spots.
2014 Aptos, San Marino and Prague Challenger Recaps
ATP Challenger Tour
Aptos Challenger
The expected final between top seeds Mikhail Kukushkin and Marcos Baghdatis did indeed take place, resulting in a 7-6(7) 6-4 victory for Baghdatis. This marked his second Challenger title in just as many weeks, and along with it a long awaited return into the top 100. He dropped out of the all-important top 100 for the first time since 2009 in the first week of this year, but now rises 24 spots to #82 to reclaim his position as a top 100 player. Baghdatis did not drop a set all tournament, even against Ruben Bemelmans in the quarterfinals, against whom he had to save two match points in their match last week, also in the quarterfinals.
San Marino had a lot of surprises, with the top four seeds all being out before the semi-final. Top seed Simone Bolelli got upset in the quarterfinal by wild card Alessandro Giannessi, who is ranked outside of the top 300: 4-6 6-4 6-3. The number two was prevalent as second seed Daniel Gimeno-Traver fell against Viktor Troicki for the second week in a row, after missing two match points: 4-6 7-6(3) 7-6(6). Troicki couldn’t keep up his run, as he fell to qualifier Antonio Veic in the next round, Veic marched all the way to the final after beating Guilherme Clezar, the conqueror of third seed Maximo Gonzalez in the first round.
Veic met Adrian Ungur in the final, who took out fourth seed Albert Montanes in a grueling three set match earlier in the tournament. It turned out to be an unpleasant final for the undoubtedly tired Veic, as Ungur absolutely hammered him 6-1 6-0 to take home the title. Nevertheless this obviously still meant a huge jump in the rankings for Veic, as he rose 77 positions to #236. Ungur won 21 spots re-entered the top 150 at #136.
Prague also resulted in a lot of surprises, except for one, the winner. After the second rounds only two seeds still remained, #3 Michal Przysiezny and #1 Diego Schwartzman. As I wrote in my preview I thought that #2 seed Andrey Kuznetsov might struggle against qualifier Thiago Monteiro, but Monteiro’s straight set victory still came as a surprise. Veteran Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo profited from the opening in the draw, as he marched on to the semi-final in that section. There he lost to Andre Ghem, who would fall to Schwartzman in the final: 6-4 7-5. This meant a new career high for the Argentinian, as he rose 17 spots to #81. Ghem jumped 41 spots to #210, but it is yet to be seen if he, at 32, can catch up with his career high ranking of #181.
2014 Aptos, San Marino and Prague Challenger Previews Chris De Waard, Tennis East Coast
This week three Challengers will take place, one in the States and two in Europe. The Comerica Bank Challenger in Aptos will be played on hardcourt, the other two (San Marino Go&Fun Open and Advantage Cars Prague Open) on clay.
Aptos Challenger
Aptos Challenger
The Comerica Bank Challenger
ATP Challenger Tour and USTA Pro Circuit
Aptos, CA, USA
August 2 – August 10
Prize Money: $100,000
The last direct acceptance is Emilio Gomez, ranked 217th. A wild card has been awarded to 19 year old Mackenzie McDonald, who made a name for himself last month by reaching the semi-final of the Winnetka Challenger as a qualifier.
First round match-ups to watch
(8) Marton Fucsovics vs. (WC) Mackenzie McDonald
Like I said, McDonald already showed that he can hang on this level. Not only in the recent Winnetka Challenger, but last year he surprised everyone by beating Mahut and Johnson to qualify for the Masters event in Cincinnati, where he lost to Goffin in the first round. He faces eighth seed Fucsovics, who hasn’t been convincing on hardcourt yet this year, with five losses against players outside of the top 200 in the eight tournaments he has played on the surface. So despite their ranking difference this has the potential to be a hard fought battle, with a great chance for the young American to advance.
Taro Daniel vs. Ruben Bemelmans
Even though Daniel primarily plays on clay, he has shown that he can be very dangerous on hardcourt. Rosol knows a thing or two about that after being taken to five sets by Daniel during their Davis Cup tie in April. He had a decent showing at the Vancouver Challenger last week, losing in the quarter final to the eventual winner Baghdatis. Bemelmans lost to Baghdatis as well, in the next round. He has a reputation for being a choker, which he showed against Baghdatis by missing two match points, netting a fairly easy shot on one of them.
Taro
Top Half
Rankings-wise, Kukushkin clearly stands out. He is the only top 100 player in the draw and the difference between him and #2 seed Baghdatis are a massive 51 ranking spots. However, he is far from a certainty to reach the final. Former world number 61 Devvarman is a threat and beat him in three sets the only time they met in 2011. Kukushkin also isn’t going into this tournament with a lot of confidence, losing to world number 228 Gerasimov in a third set tiebreak two weeks ago in the quarter final of the Astana Challenger.
In the second quarter Donskoy and Dustov are well capable of beating him. Granted, Donskoy isn’t in great form, so the danger will probably come from Dustov. Dustov reached the final of the Vancouver Challenger last week and will be feeling confident coming into this tournament.
Bottom Half
It’s hard to look past Baghdatis here, I can’t see anyone threatening him and in my eyes he is the favorite to win the tournament, especially coming into this tournament on a high after winning the Vancouver Challenger last week. If Bemelmans gets to the quarter final he might be a threat, considering how close he got last week. But Bemelmans is well capable of losing to Daniel or Pavic.
The third quarter is the most interesting in my eyes, with Fucsovics, McDonald, Marchenko, Kuznetsov and Soeda all being qualified to reach the semi-final. It’s really hard to predict what’s going to happen here, other than the winner most probably losing against Baghdatis.
Predictions
Semis:
Dustov def. Kukushkin
Baghdatis def. Soeda
I think Dustov’s good form will prevail over Kukushkin’s lack of it, despite the huge gap in their rankings. Like I said, the third quarter is extremely difficult to predict, so I took the safe route here and picked the highest seed.
Final:
Baghdatis def. Dustov
A repeat of last week’s final, ending in the same fashion. But back to back finals would be a very good result for Dustov and there is no shame in losing to Baghdatis, so if this happens it should give him a tremendous confidence boost as he gets closer to the top 100. As for Baghdatis, reaching the quarter final here would probably already enough for him to get back into the top 100.
San Marino Challenger
San Marino Go&Fun Open
ATP Challenger Tour
San Marino
August 2 – August 10
Prize Money: €64,000
Go&Fun Open
Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Simone Bolelli (89)
2: Daniel Gimeno-Traver (93)
3: Maximo Gonzalez (104)
4: Albert Montanes (119)
5: Julian Reister (125)
6: Peter Gojowczyk (127)
7: Filip Krajinovic (134)
8: Filippo Volandri (136)
The last direct acceptance is Aldin Setkic, ranked 267th. A couple of really interesting players have come through the qualification draw, Christian Garin, Giovanni Lapentti and Antonio Veic. Comeback Kid Viktor Troicki has received a wild card and will surely be one of the most dangerous players in the draw.
First round match-ups to watch
(4) Albert Montanes vs. Potito Starace
An interesting meeting between two 33 year old veterans with singlehanded backhands. The decline of Montanes has been apparent as he failed to make a dent on the main tour, dropping to a ranking spot of 141 after starting the year inside of the top 60. This will be his first Challenger tournament of the year. Montanes leads their head to head 5-3, with their first meeting dating all the way back to 2002.
(5) Julian Reister vs. Victor Hanescu
Reister is another player who failed to make an impression on the main tour, racking up a 1-10 record this year. Hanescu followed a similar ranking path as Montanes this year, starting inside the top 80 and dropping to his current ranking of 151. Their head to head is 1-1 and this will surely become a tight match, where the winner will be difficult to predict.
Top Half
Bolelli is the clear favorite to make the final here. The other seeds are Gojowczyk, Montanes and Volandri, who haven’t been convincing in the slightest lately, while Bolelli comes off a Challenger win in Oberstaufen, which resulted in him entering the top 100 again after starting the year outside of the top 300.
In the second quarter I’d mark Montanes as the favorite to reach the semi-final. Of course, he hasn’t been impressive this year, but this will be his first Challenger event and he might well still be too good for this level. He doesn’t have an easy draw however, he likely has to face three Italians to get there, Starace, Cecchinato and Volandri. If I had to pick one of them to upset Montanes I would go for Cecchinato, who reached a Challenger final in Mestre last month, where he almost managed to beat Cuevas. He also is the defending champion, so he will feel confident playing here.
Bottom Half
Second seed Gimeno-Traver is hating his draw, as he is projected to play wild card Troicki in the second round, who beat him in straight sets last week. Troicki should be able to repeat this feat and notch a place in the semi-final after comfortably beating Reister or Hanescu.
The third quarter is a really interesting one, especially if we get to see the blockbuster quarter final between Krajinovic and Gonzalez. Krajinovic is on a roll lately, reaching the third round of the ATP 500 event in Hamburg and winning last week’s Challenger in Cortina. Gonzalez is on a run of his own, coming through the qualification draw in Kitzbühel to reach the semi-final, in which he lost in three sets to the eventual winner Goffin. This will surely be a cracker.
Predictions
Semis:
Bolelli def. Montanes
Troicki def. Gonzalez
Troicki will get a lucky break and avoids Krajinovic, the man who beat him last week. Bolelli will be too much for Montanes, who is seeking form.
Final:
Bolelli def. Troicki
Bolelli has the fire power to hit through Troicki and in his current form he is well capable of doing that. He leads the head to head 2-1, but they have never met before on clay.
Prague Challenger
Advantage Cars Prague Open
ATP Challenger Tour
Prague, Czech Republic
August 2 – August 10
Prize Money: €42,500
The last direct acceptance is Jan Hernych, ranked 264th. Tsung-Hua Yang, the man who beat Cuevas last week, has entered this tournament as a special exempt.
First round match-ups to watch
(2) Andrey Kuznetsov vs. (Q) Thiago Monteiro
Kuznetsov has only played one tournament since beating Ferrer at Wimbledon, losing in the second qualifying round of Hamburg, so he might be a bit rusty. 20 year old Brazilian Monteiro hasn’t dropped a set in the qualifications and might be able to trouble his much higher ranked opponent.
Top Half
For me, top seed Schwartzman is the clear cut favorite here, I can’t see anyone troubling him all the way to the final. Sorensen might have gotten a bit of confidence after taking a set off Bautista Agut in the second round of Stuttgart, but he is way too inconsistent and probably won’t be able to trouble Schwartzman, who absolutely hammered Alexander Zverev last week in Kitzbühel: 6-1 6-0.
The other seeds here are Przysiezny and Burquier, who are even less likely to pose a threat. Przysiezny is going through an enormous form crisis, while Burquier only won one of his last seven matches. In that section there is a good chance for one of the unseeded players to snatch a semi-final spot, which Yang might be able to do.
Bottom Half
If he finds his rhythm, I can’t see how Kuznetsov doesn’t reach the final, as he is clearly the best player in this half. He will most likely have to play #4 seed Gerald Melzer in the semi-final, which won’t be a problem for him. For me this is one of those tournaments where it’s very likely that the top seeds will end up in the final, I just can’t see any of the outsiders threatening them.
Predictions
Semis:
Schwartzman def. Yang
Kuznetsov def. Melzer
Yang builds on his confidence booster against Cuevas and makes another good run, but he is clearly outclassed in this match-up, as is Melzer.
Final:
Schwartzman def. Kuznetsov
Clearly the match of the tournament and I can see this become really, really close. But, since I have to pick someone I went with Schwartzman, who has a lot of rhythm on clay, unlike Kuznetsov, who has only played two matches on the surface since May.
2014 Vancouver, Cortina, Segovia and Liberec Challengers Recap
ATP Challenger Tour
Vancouver Challenger
Top seed Marcos Baghdatis lived up to his seeding and took the title after a 7-6(3) 6-3 victory over fourth seed Farrukh Dustov in the final. In the semi-final he barely managed to get by Ruben Bemelmans, as the latter missed two match points and succumbed in the third set tiebreak. Despite being ranked 105th this result doesn’t bring Baghdatis back into the top 100, as he defended 90 points from his Washington quarter final of last year.
Cortina Challenger
Filip Krajinovic took down the title after a gruelling battle with surprise finalist Federico Gaio, who entered the tournament on a wild card. Krajinovic had to battle extremely hard for the entire tournament, with a 6-4 7-5 victory being his most comfortable win of the week, which saw him play three three set matches, including one against Viktor Troicki in the semi-final.
Segovia Challenger
Adrian Mannarino won a blow-out final against Menendez-Maceiras in which he even dished out a second set bagel: 6-3 6-0. Menendez-Maceiras was on the giving end of a second set bagel in his semi-final match against second seed Kudryavtsev: 7-6(4) 6-0. Mannarino’s biggest sweat surprisingly came in the second round against qualifier Frederico Ferreira Silva, the only match in which he needed three sets to take it down. This result means that Mannarino is back in the top 100, he jumped sixteen spots to #85.
Liberec Challenger
Top favorite Pablo Cuevas didn’t withdraw as I expected, but he wasn’t fit and fell in the second round to Tsung-Hua Yang. Unseeded Andrej Martin became the surprise of the tournament by winning the final against fourth seed Horacio Zeballos: 1-6 6-1 6-4. Earlier in the tournament Martin had already beaten Steve Darcis and second seed Blaz Rola.
2014 Vancouver, Cortina, Segovia and Liberec ATP Challenger Previews Chris De Waard, Tennis East Coast
From the editor: Flying dutchman writer Chris De Waard, a future journalism student at university, who covered the Sport1 Open Challenger for us a couple of weeks ago, is joining our team here at Tennis East Coast as our ATP challenger Tour correspondent.
Please give Chris a warm welcome by taking a look at his first batch of ATP Challenger Tour Previews for the events this week. Chris will be providing his insight on the ATP Challenger Tour with weekly previews and recaps and the occasional special coverage. He may also be joining me for ATP World Tour bracketology in the future.
Apologies on the late posting. Our editors keep a busy schedule these days-Steen Kirby.
2014 Vancouver, Cortina, Segovia and Liberec Challengers Previews
Four Challenger events are on the schedule for this week, equally divided between clay and hardcourt. The Odlum Brown Vancouver Open in Canada will be played on hardcourt, as well as the Open Castilla y Leon-Villa de El Espinar in Spain. The Svijany Open and International Tennis Tournament of Cortina are both on clay and will be played in the Czech Republic (Liberec) and Italy, respectively.
Odlum Brown Vancouver Open
ATP Challenger Tour
Vancouver, Canada
July 28 – August 3
Prize Money: $100,000
Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Marcos Baghdatis (104)
2: Jimmy Wang (126)
3: Ante Pavic (140)
4: Farrukh Dustov (144)
5: Daniel Evans (147)
6: James Ward (150)
7: Hiroki Moriya (151)
8: Alex Bogomolov Jr. (165)
The last direct acceptance is Yoshihito Nishioka, ranked 252nd. A special mention goes out to South African wild card Rik de Voest, who will be playing his final tournament here. In his career, which stretched sixteen years, he reached the 110th ranking spot in singles and managed to win two ATP titles in doubles.
All those in the Vancouver area. I play the final tournament of my career tomorrow night (Mon) at 8pm @vanopen at HCC. Always love support.
21 year old Daniel plays the big majority of his tournaments on clay, so it will be interesting to see how his game will hold up on a hard court. He faces 20 year old Australian Thompson, who had a good showing at the Lexington Challenger last week, where he reached the second round in qualifying, falling to the eventual winner James Duckworth in a relatively tight match. Earlier this year, he made a name for himself on the biggest stage, when he won the first two sets against Jerzy Janowicz in the first round of the Australian Open, but eventually fell in five sets.
(2) Jimmy Wang – (SE) Thanasi Kokkinakis
18 year old Kokkinakis is steadily climbing the rankings, going from his starting position outside of the top 600 to his current ranking of #216. His semi-final at the Lexington Challenger last week was another boost for the young Australian, who just as Thompson fell to Duckworth. He made his Grand Slam debut at the Australian Open this year, beating Sijsling and falling to Nadal in the next round, which must have been a major experience for him. He has an unfortunate draw this week against second seed Jimmy Wang, who comes of a third round at Wimbledon and an ATP 250 QF in Bogota. Nevertheless, Kokkinakis might well pull off the upset here.
Top Half
Despite his obvious decline, it’s hard to look past top seed Baghdatis here. I can’t see anyone threatening him. His road to the semi-final will likely consist of John-Patrick Smith, Chase Buchanan and fifth seed Daniel Evans. Evans disappointed last week with a straight set loss to Vincent Millot in the first round of the Lexington Challenger, so he might well fall again against Thompson or Daniel.
The second quarter contains seeds Ante Pavic and Alex Bogomolov Jr. Bogomolov has been struggling with injury for a while now, so it’s difficult to predict where he is at. The best pick to make the SF here therefore is Pavic, since I can’t see any of the non-seeds make an impact here either. Pavic did his ranking a big favor by reaching second rounds at Wimbledon and Newport after qualifying. He now finds himself at a career high ranking of #138.
Bottom Half
Seventh seed Moriya must be happy to be back in Canada, where he won a Challenger title two weeks ago in Granby. He now finds himself in the top 150 for the first time in his career. The other seed in this quarter is Dustov, who I predict to come through to the semi-final after facing Williams, Collarini and Moriya.
The fourth quarter is the most difficult to predict in my eyes, because second seed Wang might well lose to Kokkinakis in the first round. Sixth seed Ward made the final of the Lexington Challenger last week, where he beat Odesnik comfortably in the semi-final. They are projected to meet again in the second round here and I can’t imagine a different outcome. I think the first round match between Wang and Kokkinakis will determine who makes the semi-final here.
Predictions
Semis:
Baghdatis def. Pavic
Wang def. Dustov
I had to pick someone here, so I went with the very slight favorite of the Wang – Kokkinakis match to come through to the semi-final. But don’t be surprised if Kokkinakis ends up at this spot.
Final:
Baghdatis def. Wang
Just like the Kokkinakis – Wang match, this is basically anyone’s call. Expect it to go to three sets. They have played each other once, an astonishing eight years ago at the ATP tournament of Beijing, with Baghdatis coming through in straight sets.
ATP Challenger Tour
Segovia, Spain
July 28 – August 3
Prize Money: €42,500
Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Adrian Mannarino (101)
2: Alexander Kudryavtsev (149)
3: Marsel Ilhan (152)
4: Gregoire Burquier (169)
5: Marco Chiudinelli (173)
6: Konstantin Kravchuk (177)
7: Ilija Bozoljac (179)
8: Adrian Menendez-Meceiras (195)
The last direct acceptance is David Rice, ranked 323rd. Don’t be fooled by the fact that this tournament is played in Spain. It will be played on hardcourt. Former top 40 player Florent Serra, who is now ranked well outside of the top 300, managed to qualify. 18 year old Chilean Christian Garin received a wild card and is surely a player to keep an eye on for the coming years. He also might create some waves in this tournament in the present day.
First round match-ups to watch
(7) Ilija Bozoljac – Daniel Munoz-De La Nava
I personally love matches between two erratic players and this will certainly deliver in that department. Two weeks ago Bozoljac reached the final of an Italian Challenger, only to lose 6-1 6-0 to Ilhan in his next tournament, which tells you all you should know. Munoz-De La Nava is cut out of the same wood. He can clean up everyone on the Challenger circuit on a good day, but is just as likely to lose against seemingly-worse opponents.
Top Half
Top seed Adrian Mannarino is the obvious pick to go through to the semi-final. The former top 50 player has slipped a bit in the rankings, but is on the verge of entering the top 100 again, which might well happen after this tournament. To reach the semi-final he’ll have to go through Angelinos, Obry and seventh seed Bozoljac, which seems easily doable for Mannarino.
In the second quarter, two veterans will probably fight for a spot in the semi-final, with 30 year old fourth seed Burquier projected to play 32 year old fifth seed Marco Chiudinelli. I think Chiudinelli is the better hardcourt of the two and will advance. Nevertheless, a quarter final would be enough for Burquier to reach a career high ranking, despite his advanced age.
Bottom Half
In the bottom half, Marsel Ilhan will be the player to beat. Ilhan just reached a Challenger final last week in Astana and will be looking to continue this run. The main threat in this section will probably come from 19 year old Kyle Edmund, who has it in him to upset Ilhan. Edmund reached the semi-final of the Astana Challenger last week, losing to eventual winner Berankis.
In the final quarter, it’s hard to look past second seed Kudryavtsev, unless Garin gets inspired and decides it’s time to notch up an important hardcourt victory. I see Garin as a bigger threat than sixth seed Kravchuk, so it will probably be between him and Kudryavtsev for a place in the semi-final.
Predictions
Semis:
Mannarino def. Chiudinelli
Ilhan def. Kudryavtsev
Mannarino and Ilhan are clearly ahead of the pack for me in this tournament. The only variation I can see in this line-up is Garin instead of Kudryavtsev, but that won’t change the outcome of the semi-final.
Final:
Mannarino def. Ilhan
Tough for Ilhan to come up second twice in a row, but Mannarino is simply the better player and will be very motivated to return into the top 100 once again.
The last direct acceptance is Elias Ymer, ranked 310th. Well known Belgian Steve Darcis has received a wild card and will play third seed Bagnis in the first round. At the time I wrote this piece, there was no confirmation of Cuevas withdrawing, but I’m going to assume he will, since I can’t imagine him playing a Challenger right after winning his first two ATP titles.
First round match-ups to watch
(3) Facundo Bagnis – (WC) Steve Darcis
This might turn out to be a really unlucky draw for Bagnis, who faces former top 40 player Darcis, who is on the comeback trail after a long period of injury troubles. This all started during his Wimbledon victory over Nadal, in which he attracted an shoulder injury which forced him to withdraw from the next round. In his previous tournament, a Futures event, he reached the final, and prior to that he fell in a close three set match to Zeballos at a Challenger, so he is ready for the challenge.
(7) Michal Przysiezny – Mohamed Safwat
Przysiezny has been on a freefall through the rankings because of his spectacular losing streak at the ATP level. He started the year in the top 70 and has now dropped to the 145th spot. For now, going a step lower hasn’t helped, since he lost to world number 831 Gibril Diarra in the second round of the Oberstaufen Challenger last week. Safwat might well be able to take out the seeded player here.
Top Half
With Cuevas presumably out, this is a perfect opportunity for sixth seed Gombos to advance to the semi-final, which he will probably manage. In the second quarter, Zeballos might be eliminated by his countryman Arguello. Zeballos has been looking very shaky in his last couple of tournaments and seems to be lacking fitness and confidence, which Arguello is well capable of taking advantage.
Bottom Half
This looks to be much more open than the top half, with unseeded Martin being a good bet to reach the semi-final. He will probably be battling it out with the winner of Darcis – Bagnis for that spot. For now. I’m going to say that Darcis has shaken off the rust and is ready to make a big run here.
In the final quarter, second seed Blaz Rola seems a solid bet. Perhaps 18 year old Elias Ymer can trouble him, who recently has been making some steps in the rankings and recently notched up his first ATP victory at Bastad. It’s currently not wise to expect anything from the other seed in this section, Przysiezny.
Predictions
Semis:
Gombos def. Arguello
Rola def. Darcis
Gombos defeated Arguello in straight sets a couple of tournaments ago and I can’t see that being any different this time around. Darcis will have a great confidence boost here, but Rola is a top 100 opponent, which is just a bit too much at the moment.
Final:
Rola def. Gombos
Rola will finally notch up a Challenger win on clay after missing out in three prior finals this year. This result will also give both players a career high ranking.
ATP Challenger Tour
Cortina, Italy
July 28 – August 3
Prize Money: €42,500
Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)
1: Daniel Gimeno-Traver (89)
2: Simone Bolelli (108)
3: Peter Gojowczyk (116)
4: Andreas Beck (118)
5: Filippo Volandri (119)
6: Victor Hanescu (129)
7: Filip Krajinovic (134)
8: Adrian Ungur (159)
The last direct acceptance is Alessandro Giannessi, ranked 296th. Second seed Simone Bolelli withdrew after winning the Oberstaufen Challenger. Qualifier Virgili takes his spot in the draw. Victor Troicki qualified and plays the unlucky sixth seed Hanescu in the first round. Third seed Gojowczyk also withdrew, with LL Trusendi taking his spot.
First round match-ups to watch
(1) Daniel Gimeno-Traver – Borna Coric
Talk about unlucky, the #1 seed must hate this draw. 17 year old Coric just had his breakthrough tournament at ATP 250 Umag, where he reached the QF and lost in three sets to Fognini. While Coric is coming in on a high, Gimeno-Traver had a painful loss against world number 212 Yann Marti in the first round of Gstaad. It’s a very rare scenario to see in a first round, but I think the #1 seed is actually the slight underdog here.
(6) Victor Hanescu – (Q) Viktor Troicki
A battle between the former world number 26, Hanescu and 12, Troicki, a rare sight on the Challenger tour. The reason for Troicki’s ranking drop is well known, a highly controversial doping ban. Hanescu’s drop can be simply explained by the fact that he’s 33 and declining. Their last match on clay in 2009 ended in an easy 6-3 6-3 victory for Troicki and I expect a similar score line here.
Potito Starace – Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo
This one is for the real purists, a battle between two veteran grinders with vintage clay court games. Starace at 33 is a youngster compared to RRH, who at 36 is still defending his title as the most aesthetically pleasing moonballer of all time. Recently, RRH notched up his 350th win on the Challenger circuit, making him the player with the most all time wins by a large margin. #2 Lu is trailing him by a little over sixty wins. Their head to head is 5-2 in RRH’s favor and I expect this match to go his way as well.
Top Half
Like I said, I expect Coric to triumph over the #1 seed Gimeno-Traver in the first round, after which he will most likely have a really interesting meeting with Troicki in the quarter final. That match will be a coin flip. In the second quarter, I expect Krajinovic to exceed his ranking and reach the semi-final after upsetting Beck in the quarter final. I can’t see any of the non-seeds changing this outcome.
Bottom Half
This half is wide open after Bolelli and Gojowczyk withdrew and is pretty much impossible to call. The other two seeds, Volandri and Ungur, aren’t reliable enough to make this a clear cut case in their favor. Ungur has only reached one QF in his previous six Challengers and Volandri followed a similar path this year, racking up an awful 1-16 record on the main tour. I’m inclined to predict some surprises here. This is a big opportunity for a lot of guys.
19 year old wild card Stefano Napolitano might be the man to do it and give his career an enormous boost. In the final quarter, despite everything, I still favor Ungur to come through, but like I said, anything can happen and not a single scenario would surprise me.
Predictions
Semis:
Coric def. Krajinovic
Ungur def. Napolitano
I let Coric get through against Troicki because I feel like he is extremely confident at the moment and has the attacking game to break through Troicki’s defense. I actually believe that their match is the real final, if Troicki wins he will win the tournament as well.
Ungur gets a really lucky break and after a minor slump suddenly finds himself in a final without having faced high ranked opponents. In the final, he will be outclassed in straight sets by a superior opponent. So, naturally:
2014 Tallahassee Tennis Challenger Qualifying Preview Steen Kirby, Tennis East Coast
For the third year in a row, Tennis East Coast will have live on site coverage from the USTA Tallahassee Tennis Challenger, which again this year is the final stop on the Har-Tru USTA Pro Circuit Wild Card Challenge.
The American man who posts the best results across 3 Har-Tru green clay tournaments (Sarasota, Savannah and Tallahassee will be awarded a main draw wild card for Roland Garros. A host of other players will be competing and our on-site coverage starts Monday and runs through Wednesday. In the meantime, here is a look at the Men’s qualifying, which starts Saturday morning and is free to the public.
23-year-old Italian lefty Erik Crepaldi, the world number 422, is the top qualifying seed. His best result of note was a futures title last season in Cyprus and he also made a futures semifinal in Turkey this season, splitting his time between hard and clay courts. He gets a bye and faces the winner of former SMU Mustang Adham El-Effendi vs. 17-year-old Alex Rybakov, one of the top-tier American juniors who is top 50 in the ITF junior standings and nationally ranked as a top 5 high school tennis recruit.
Either Crepaldi/Rybakov/El-Effendi will face will face one of Ryan Agar, the 7 seed who gets a bye into round 2 of the qualies, or Takura Happy/Sebastian Bader for a spot in the main draw. Happy is a current Florida A&M player, while Bader and Agar are both 26-year-old journeymen who share the same coach, according to the ITF.
Fratangelo
20-year-old former French Open Junior champion Bjorn Fratangelo is the number 2 qualifying seed. The young American, who is very comfortable on clay, qualified at the Savannah Challenger last week and his best result as a professional is a challenger semifinal last year on clay in Brazil. Fratangelo will face Anderson Reed or Franko Skugor for a spot in round 3 of qualifying. Reed is a Florida State player and Skugor is a former top 150 as recently as 2011. He’s had injuries that derailed his improvement. He’s been struggling this season, but has a challenger title and an ATP quarterfinal (Bastad 2011) on his resume. He’s also reasonably accomplished on clay. Fratangelo/Skugor/Reed will face one of Eric Quigley/Benjamin Lock/Courage Okungbowa for a spot in the main draw. Former Kentucky Wildcat Quigley is the seed and gets a bye into round 2. Lock is from Zimbabwe and a current Florida State Seminole and he will face current Florida A&M player Okungbowa in a battle of collegiate players in round 1. Okungbowa is a well-respected 18-year-old Freshman.
Former top American junior Mitchell Krueger, who like Fratangelo is 20 and is at a career high ranking inside the top 450, is the number 3 seed. He gets a bye into round 2 and will face local high school player Allen Vinson or former South Florida player Mark Oljaca in his first match. Krueger came up just short of qualifying in Savannah and would like to do one better in Tally.
Krueger/Vinson/Oljaca will take on one of former Louisville player Andrew Carter, British doubles specialist Sean Thornley or the seed Nikita Kryvonos, who 11 years ago was a promising American junior that had his career derailed by injuries for a spot in the main draw. Kryvonos gets a bye into round 2 and faces the Thornley/Carter winner.
Former Michigan All-American Evan King is the 4 seed. He gets a bye and will face the winner of Florida State player Jordan Kelly-Houston, who hails from New Zealand vs. local Tallahassee high school recruit Terrell Whitehurst, who has verbally committed to Florida State. King/Kelly-Houston/Whitehurst will face one of former Florida Gator Sekou Bangoura, Mico Santiago, another 20-year-old American, or Bethune-Cookman graduate assistant Emil Vassilev for a spot in the main draw.
As with most challenger qualifying draws, things are lopsided in some parts, but there are bound to be competitive matches throughout.
US OPEN DOUBLES CHAMP ANDREA HLAVACKOVA HEADLINES FIFTH ANNUAL USTA $50,000 PRO CIRCUIT WOMEN’S EVENT
LAS VEGAS (Sept. 14, 2013) – Yeah, Baby! The Party Rock Open is back!
The fifth annual USTA $50,000 Pro Circuit women’s event in Las Vegas will return Sept. 23-29 to the Darling Tennis Center, formerly the host site for the ATP Tennis Channel Open.
The Party Rock Open is Las Vegas’ only professional tennis tournament, and is named for LMFAO’s Redfoo and his Party Rock franchise’s title sponsorship. LMFAO was recently nominated for a Grammy Award, and Redfoo has been linked to U.S. Open Finalist Victoria Azarenka.
This year’s tournament features an impressive global player field. Top seed Andrea Hlavackova of the Czech Republic will be making her Party Rock Open debut fresh off capturing the U.S. Open Women’s and Mixed doubles titles.
Another force to be reckoned with is Tamira Paszek from Austria, who reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2012.
Tamira Paszek, 2013 US Open
Other notable entrants include Eleni Daniilidou from Greece, winner of five WTA singles titles during her career; Portugese star Michelle Larcher De Brito, who upset Maria Sharapova this summer at Wimbledon; budding American talent Taylor Townsend, the 2012 Australian Open junior champion; and Melanie Oudin, who made a memorable run to the U.S. Open quarterfinals in 2009 as a 17-year-old.
Michelle Larcher de Brito
Girls’ 18s U.S. National Champion Sachia Vickery, who advanced to the second round at this year’s U.S. Open as a wild card, leads the list of qualifying players.
Other qualifiers include 2012 US Open junior champ Samantha Crawford, Las Vegas’ Asia Muhammad, and Allie Kiick, the daughter of former Miami Dolphins running back Jim Kiick.
The Party Rock Open has served as a showcase for emerging stars during its tenure in Las Vegas, and counts several alumni in the top 50 in the world, including top Jamie Hampton, Sorana Cirstea, and U.S. Olympian Varvara Lepchenko.
“There is no doubt that the next great generation of players will once again be on display at the Party Rock Open,” said Co-Tournament Director Jordan Butler, who also noted that the night matches at Darling create a spectacular setting for fans.
Added tournament founder Tyler Weekes: “It’s time to Party Rock, Vegas pro tennis style.”
Qualifying action begins Sunday, Sept. 22, and is free of charge to attend. Monday, Sept. 23, is also free to the public.
Las Vegas area youth are also encouraged to attend the tournament’s annual Kids’ Day on Sunday, which will feature free tennis clinics, games, and more.
The Party Rock Open is Presented by Protect Your Bubble.com, an award-winning gadget insurance company.
Premier sponsors include: BILT by Agassi and Reyes, Newcastle Brown Ale, Las Vegas Review-Journal, Cox Communications, WG Communications Group, ESPN 1100, Lotus Broadcasting, http://www.10sBalls.com, USTA-Nevada, Court Think, LLC, and Agent Atleta, LLC.
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