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Viva Las Vegas: American @StefanKozlov Nabs Sin City Title

Posted by Admin on October 23, 2017
Posted in: ATP, ATP Challenger, Las Vegas, USTA, USTA Pro Circuit. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Stefan Kozlov Beats Liam Broady To Win Las Vegas Tennis Open ATP Tour Challenger Championship

Stefan Kozlov (Photo: Penelope Eischer)

Stefan Kozlov (Photo: Penelope Eischer)

LAS VEGAS (Oct. 22, 2017) – It took a patient Stefan Kozlov a set and a few games to adjust to lefty Liam Broady’s crafty game, but once he did he was able to secure his second career $50,000 pro title by winning the ATP Tour Challenger Las Vegas Tennis Open on Sunday, 3-6, 7-5, 6-4.

“We both just put it on the line today and it was 50-50,” the 19-year-old Kozlov told the appreciative Las Vegas crowd during the trophy presentation at the Fertitta Tennis Complex on the campus of UNLV. “We were both left gasping for air and it wasn’t easy. It could have gone either way today. I was very impressed with Liam’s sportsmanship today.”

Kozlov seemed to pick up his game down a set and an early break in the second set. He broke serve for 3-all and then hit several nice finesse shots, to earn a hold at 4-3, pumping his fist and getting the crowd fired up after each point.

“I haven’t had the best last couple of months, a lot of ups and downs,” said Kozlov, who earned $7,200 with the win. “For all the downs, you have to kind of look for the ups and today I had to dig deep for my up.”
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Broady received treatment from the tournament trainer for some late-match cramping right after the match and before the awards ceremony, laying on a towel. He told the crowd a few minutes later that he “left it all out there, and sometimes you pay the price.”

Broady was playing in Las Vegas for his third time and received $4,240. He was watched all week by his coach David Sammel. “Obviously Kozlov has so much experience in these big matches,” he said. “Maybe I wasn’t aggressive at the right times of the match, and Koz has such good defense.”

It will be 20 years next month that Kozlov’s favorite player and Las Vegas resident Andre Agassi returned to tennis at age 27 ranked No. 141 in the world and made the final of a similar USTA Pro Circuit $50,000 Challenger in his first tournament back. On these same UNLV courts Agassi began his inspiring journey to regaining the No. 1 ranking in the world.

Like Agassi, Kozlov was a young prodigy who made his ATP World Tour debut as a wild card in Newport at the age of 15. He reached two junior Grand Slam finals in 2014, the Australian Open (lost to current world No. 5-ranked Alexander Zverev) and Wimbledon.

In the doubles final, the top-seeded team of Brydan Klein and Joe Salisbury of Great Britain beat the No. 3-seeded team of Hans Hach Verdugo of Mexico and American Dennis Novikov, 6-3, 4-6, 10-3. Tied 3-all in the super tiebreaker after splitting sets, Klein-Salisbury rallied off seven straight points for the win. Having played together for the past six month, Klein and Salisbury split $3,100. Both Hoch Verdugo (Abilene Christian) and Novikov (UCLA) each played college tennis and were playing for the first time together. They split $1,800.

“It was an amazing week of tennis at the Fertitta Tennis Complex,” said tournament host Owen Hambrook, the head UNLV men’s tennis coach. “This event keeps growing each year and it’s become one of the favorite stops for the players on the ATP Challenger tour. It was great to see a bunch of our up and coming American player do well this week, and we know we’ll be seeing them at the bigger ATP events in the future. Without the support of the amazing Las Vegas tennis community, this event wouldn’t be possible.”

FINAL RESULTS
Men’s Singles – Finals
[4] Stefan Kozlov (USA) def. Liam Broady (GBR), 3-6, 7-5, 6-4
Men’s Doubles – Finals
[1] Brydan Klein (GBR) / Joe Salisbury (GBR) def. [3] Hans Hach Verdugo (MEX) / Dennis Novikov (USA), 6-3, 4-6, 10-3

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Auger-Aliassime of @TennisCanada Humbled to Join Elite Club of Youngest Challenger Winners

Posted by Admin on June 19, 2017
Posted in: ATP, ATP Challenger, Canada, Rogers Cup. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Embed from Getty Images
HISTORIC VICTORY FOR AUGER-ALIASSIME IN LYON
The 16-year-old becomes the 7th youngest player to win an ATP Challenger title

Montreal, June 19, 2017 – At just 16 years, 10 months, Félix Auger-Aliassime became the seventh youngest player in history to capture an ATP Challenger title on Sunday at the Open de Sopra Steria in Lyon, France. Today, he reflected on the title.

“I’m used to playing at a high level. After playing for five weeks of Asia in Challengers qualifiers, it’s finally paid off and I found the edge,” he said in a telephone press conference.

“I continue to play well against the guys at the Futures level and the Challenger level,” he continued. “I always believe in my chances. I feel like my level wasn’t that far from these guys. Mentally, I stayed positive in every match and it paid off at the end of the week.”

Auger-Aliassime remarked that he hadn’t yet set any new “objectives” for his career, since a main 2017 objective was winning a challenger. “We’re gonna sit down and set new objectives,” he said.

Position Player Age Tournament
1 Michael Chang 15 years,7 months Las Vegas, USA, 1997
2 Richard Gasquet 16 years,0 months Montauban, FRA, 2002
3 Bernard Tomic 16 years,4 months Melbourne, AUS, 2009
4 Kent Carlsson 16 years,7 months New Ulm, GER, 1984
5 Marcos Ondruska 16 years,7 months Durban, RSA, 1989
6 Rafael Nadal 16 years,9 months Bartella, ITA, 2003
7 Auger-Aliassime 16 years, 10 months Lyon, FRA, 2017
8 Novak Djokovic 17 years,0 months Budapest, HUN, 2004

Auger-Aliassime, who was already the youngest Challenger finalist since Stefan Kozlov in 2014, defeated world no. 171 Mathias Bourge of France 6-4, 6-1 in the final of the 64 000 € tournament.

Auger-Aliassime’s victory means that three Canadians have won a title on the ATP Challenger Tour this season, a first since 2013. Denis Shapovalov won the Drummondville National Bank Challenger in March and Vasek Pospisil was crowned champion of the Busan Challenger last month.

Auger-Aliassime will look to keep his win streak going this week at the Internationaux de tennis de Blois. He will face France’s Gianni Mina in the first round.

The @USTA Australian Open Men’s Wild Card Fight Gets Underway Today @CMPChallenger

Posted by Admin on October 31, 2016
Posted in: ATP, ATP Challenger, ATP Qualifying, Charlottesville. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment
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Aron Hiltzik (Photo: TennisAtlantic.com)

The USTA Australian Open Men’s Wild Card Fight Gets Underway Today 
Steve Fogleman, Tennis Atlantic

(CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA)–If you’re outside the top 100, this is your go time. The USTA Australian Open Men’s Wild Card Challenge gets underway today at the Boar’s Head Resort in Charlottesville, Virginia. Americans Reilly Opelka, Tennys Sandgren, Sekou Bangoura and Jared Donaldson will try to notch the first points toward a run at the Wild Card today, and US compatriots Gonzales Austin, Aron Hiltzik, J.C. Aragone and Thai-Son Kwiatkowski will try to qualify for the event this morning.

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Gonzales Austin (Photo: TennisAtlantic.com)

It’s a three-event slog: Charlottesville, Knoxville and Champaign. Whoever comes up with the most points in their best two of three tournaments gets a first-round meeting (and the prize money that come with it) in sunny Melbourne.

Last year’s winner, Noah Rubin, is here as is French Open Wild card winner Bjorn Fratangelo. It’s a Challenger with a mission and it’s American on American warfare.

Today, Opelka plays his countryman Bangoura. Tomorrow, Frances Tiafoe will play Ryan Shane in the first round, while 2012 Charlottesville champion Denis Kudla takes on Tommy Paul and Dennis Novikov faces off against Michael Mmoh. Game on!

Frances Tiafoe Breaks Into ATP Top 100

Posted by Admin on October 11, 2016
Posted in: ATP, Junior Tennis Champions Center, Maryland. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment
tiafoe-stockton

Frances Tiafoe, Stockton Challenger Champion (Photo: JTCC/USTA)

FRANCES TIAFOE BREAKS INTO ATP TOP 100
Youngest Player Leads Race For “ATP Star of Tomorrow” Award
Eighteen-year-old Frances Tiafoe achieved a career-high #100 ATP world ranking and put himself in prime position to claim the “ATP Star of Tomorrow” award by winning his second ATP Tour Challenger title at the Stockton $100,000 Challenger in Stockton, CA on Sunday.
Tiafoe hopes to follow 2015 “ATP Star of Tomorrow” German Alexander Zverev, current world #21, and other past illustrious winners Marat Safin, Andy Roddick and Rafael Nadal.
The youngest player in the year-end top 100 will receive the annual “Star of Tomorrow” honor during the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London next month.
The JTCC alumnus is currently #94 in the ATP Singles Race, based on points earned in 2016. This list only takes into account tournaments played during 2016 and will match exactly with the year-end ATP rankings. Tiafoe is well-placed to maintain his top 100 status and win the “Star of Tomorrow” accolade.
Tiafoe’s nearest challengers are Stefan Kozlov (USA) and Duckhee Lee (KOR), who are ranked #156 and #157, respectively.
Tiafoe’s destiny is in his own hands with two more tournaments remaining on his 2016 calendar. He is the #1 seed at the Fairfield, CA Challenger, where he reached the semifinals in 2015, and he plays in next week’s Las Vegas Open.
Following on the heels of his first ATP Challenger championship in Granby, Canada, # 3 seed Tiafoe, defeated fellow American Noah Rubin, 6-4, 6-2 in the Stockton, CA final on Sunday.  In addition, Tiafoe has reached three ATP Challenger Finals in Tallahassee, FL, Winnetka, IL and Lexington, KY in 2016.
The Hyattsville, MD native who began playing tennis at age four at JTCC, won his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 match at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, CA in March by beating longtime junior rival Taylor Fritz 6-3, 2-6, 6-3. He also came within two points of causing a major upset at the US Open where he pushed the #1 American and #20 seed John Isner to five sets in the opening round before succumbing 3-6, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-2, 7-6(3).
“Frances has shown throughout 2016 that he is going to be a force on the ATP Tour for many years to come,” said Frank Salazar, JTCC Senior Director of High Performance, who coached Tiafoe throughout his junior career. “Breaking into the top 100 is a significant achievement, and he will be aiming to continue his upward progress during the rest of the year.”
—W. Hopton, JTCC

2016 Sarasota, Gwangju and Barletta Challenger Recaps

Posted by Admin on April 21, 2016
Posted in: ATP, ATP Challenger, Chris De Waard. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

2016 Sarasota, Gwangju and Barletta Challenger Recaps
Chris De Waard, Tennis Atlantic

 ATP Challenger Tour

Sarasota

Top seed Denis Kudla was upset by his countryman Noah Rubin in the first round, losing a marathon three-set match after missing a match point, 7-5 2-6 7-6(8). Rubin followed up with a win over Gonzalo Lama in the second round, after which he was convincingly beaten Guilherme Clezar, 6-3 6-0. Fifth seed Tim Smyczek lost to Frances Tiafoe in the first round, 6-4 6-3, although that wasn’t really an upset. Third seed Gerald Melzer was the only seed in the top half to move past the first round, eventually beating Clezar in the semi-final after the Brazilian was forced to retire down in the third set at 6-7(4) 6-4 3-2, because of a quad strain.

In the bottom half, second seed Diego Schwartzman couldn’t break his patch of bad form in recent times, losing to Henri Laaksonen in the second round, 6-4 6-7(5) 6-4. Laaksonen lost to Mischa Zverev in the quarterfinal, 2-6 6-3 7-5, after which the older brother of Alexander also dispatched sixth seed Bjorn Fratangelo in the semi-final, 6-2 6-4. Zverev continued his great run in the final against Melzer, Jurgen’s younger brother, beating the Austrian 6-4 7-6(2) in this battle of lesser-known brothers. It meant the fifth career title for Zverev, rising thirty-one spots to #131 in the rankings. Melzer rose ten spots to #112, a career high ranking.

 

Gwangju

Judging by top seed Ricardas Berankis’ scorelines in this tournament, you would think he played a Futures event. The skill gap between the world #80 and his opponents, all ranked outside of the top 150, was simply too high. Little can be said. Berankis dropped only fourteen games on his way to the semi-final and not a lot was added to that count when he faced two seeded players in Di Wu (#4) and Grega Zemlja (#6, beat #2 seed Tatsuma Ito 6-4 6-3 in the semi-final), respectively beating them 6-4 6-1 and 6-3 6-2 to win his sixth title. He rose eighteen ranking spots, landing at a career high #62. Zemlja rose twenty-eight spots to #161.

 

 

Barletta

The top two seeds were far from upholding their seeding in this event. Rogerio Dutra Silva, the top seed, lost 7-6(5) 6-4 to Jurgen Zopp in the quarterfinal, while second seed Roberto Carballes Baena lost 5-7 6-4 6-4 to Alessandro Giannessi in the second round. Zopp lost his semi-final to eighth seed Elias Ymer, who turned twenty last week, 6-2 6-4. Third seed Adam Pavlasek recovered well from his tough victory over Marton Fucsovics in the second round, 5-7 6-4 6-3, beating qualifiers Lorenzo Sonego and Enrique Lopez-Perez respectively 6-2 6-0 and 6-1 6-3 to reach the final. There Ymer was too strong, however, with the Swede winning 7-5 6-4 to take down his second title. He rose nineteen spots to a career high ranking of #123, while Pavlasek rose twelve spots to #108, a career high ranking as well.

 

2016 @SarasotaOpen Challenger Preview, Predictions

Posted by Admin on April 13, 2016
Posted in: ATP, ATP Challenger, Chris De Waard, Sarasota. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

2016 Sarasota Challenger Preview and Predictions
Chris De Waard, Tennis Atlantic

sarasota

2016 Joey Gratton Sarasota Open
ATP Challenger Tour
Sarasota, FL, USA
9-17 April 2016
Green Clay, Har-Tru
Prize Money: $100,000

 

Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)

1: Denis Kudla (59)
2: Diego Schwartzman (88)
3: Gerald Melzer (117)
4: Nikoloz Basilashvili (121)
5: Tim Smyczek (125)
6: Bjorn Fratangelo (131)
7: Facundo Arguello (139)
8: Jared Donaldson (142)

 

The last direct acceptance is Gonzalo Lama, ranked 225th.

Second round match-up to watch

(6) Bjorn Fratangelo – Dennis Novikov

Fratangelo (Photo: S. Kirby)

Fratangelo

In the first round Novikov had a solid 6-4 6-4 win over former world #20 Dmitry Tursunov, who despite not having played a lot of matches since returning from injury is still a tricky opponent. Both men have displayed similar form this year, so perhaps their personal match-up is what will decide this match. They have played each other three times, with Fratangelo prevailing every time. It has been close, however, 3-6 7-6(3) 6-1 at the Lexington Challenger on hardcourt and 3-6 6-3 6-2 at the Caltanissetta Challenger on clay, both last year.

Top Half

Third seed Gerald Melzer is the only seed to have survived the first round, granting him with a big opportunity to reach the final. His toughest challenger on the way to the final will probably be Frances Tiafoe, who reached the second round by beating fifth seed Tim Smyczek, 6-4 6-3. Melzer, who is playing the best tennis of his career, should be too solid for Tiafoe at this point. Melzer has already won three Challengers this year and came close to beating the eventual winner Juan Monaco in the first round of Houston last week, losing 2-6 7-6(3) 4-6.

Bottom Half

Second seed Diego Schwartzman had one of the most horrifying performances you will ever see at Houston last week, when he lost 0-6 0-6 to Marcos Baghdatis in the first round. He is desperate to recover from it and made a good start by only dropping four games in his opening round against qualifier Jose Hernandez-Fernandez. Viewing last week’s performance as an incident, he should be above the rest of his opponents in this half. He will face the winner of Facundo Arguello – Mischa Zverev in the quarterfinal and likely Fratangelo in the semi-final, all of whom he is a firm favorite against.

Predictions

Semi-finals:

Melzer d. Clezar

Schwartzman d. Fratangelo

Final:

Schwartzman d. Melzer

 

2016 @IrvingClassic Challenger Preview & Predictions

Posted by Admin on March 15, 2016
Posted in: ATP, ATP Challenger, Chris De Waard. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

2016 Irving Challenger Preview & Predictions
Chris De Waard, Tennis Atlantic

 irving

2016 BMW of Dallas Irving Tennis Classic

ATP Challenger Tour

Irving, USA

15-20 March 2016

Hardcourt, Laycold Purple

Prize Money: $125,000

 

Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)

1: Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (38)

2: Gilles Muller (45)

3: Lukas Rosol (50)

4: Aljaz Bedene (51)

5: Inigo Cervantes (59)

6: Denis Kudla (66)

7: Daniel Munoz De La Nava (69)

8: Iliya Marchenko (72)

The last direct acceptance is Jozef Kovalik, ranked 183rd.

 

First round match-ups to watch

 

(1) Guillermo Garcia-Lopez – Marco Cecchinato

This should be an interesting match press wise, as it got known a couple of days ago that Cecchinato is under investigation by the Italian Tennis Federation because of suspected match-fixing at the Mohammedia Challenger last year. The alleged fix took place in his quarterfinal match against Kamil Majchrzak, a match he lost 1-6 4-6.

 

(WC) Ryan Harrison – Andrey Rublev

Ryan Harrison at Legg Mason Tennis Classic. August 1, 2011

18-year-old Rublev won his first Challenger in Quimper two weeks ago, beating home player Paul-Henri Mathieu in the final. Harrison had a good showing at the Acapulco 500 event, beating world #12 Marin Cilic in the first round, before losing in a third set tiebreak to Iliya Marchenko, the eighth seed here in Irving.

 

 

(WC) Dimitry Tursunov – Donald Young

Donald Young (Photo: Chris Levy @Tennis_Shots for TennisEastCoast.com)

Donald Young (Photo: Chris Levy @Tennis_Shots for TennisAtlantic.com)

33-year-old former world #20 Tursunov recently returned from a very lengthy injury lay-off, that saw him sidelined for more than a year. He pushed eventual winner Dominic Thiem to the brink in the second round of Acapulco, losing 7-6(5) 3-6 4-6. At Indian Wells he lost in the first round to Marchenko, despite reeling off a spectacular volley winner. Young, a former top 40 player, has lost in the second round of four of the six tournaments he played this year, the other two losses were in the first round. In the first round of Indian Wells he lost in three sets to Andreas Seppi.

 

 

Top Half

As always, this tournament has a stacked draw, in reality lifting it from Challenger status to a low-tier 250 event. In the top half top seed Garcia-Lopez landed a cushy draw, with perhaps only an on-fire Rublev who will be able to stop him from reaching the semi-final. The Russian however is still very erratic and it makes sense to favor Garcia-Lopez. When it comes to the other semi-finalist I predict Aljaz Bedene, although he will face stiff competition from guys like Tursunov/Young and perhaps even Frances Tiafoe, who had a great win over Taylor Fritz at Indian Wells a couple of days.

 

Bottom Half

Second seed Gilles Muller came close to an upset against Rafael Nadal in the second round of Indian Wells, but the Spaniard edged him out 6-2 2-6 6-4. Muller should be able to at least reach the semi-final here, although he likely faces tough competition in the quarterfinal from Marchenko, who has been in good form lately. In the top section third seed Lukas Rosol has a comfortable draw and should be able to get through. The other seed in this section is Denia Kudla, who got absolutely hammered by Philipp Kohlschreiber in the first round of Indian Wells, 6-0 6-1.

 

 

Predictions

Semi-finals:

Bedene d. Garcia-Lopez

Rosol d. Muller

Final:

Rosol d. Bedene

This would mean a final between the winner in 2014 (Rosol) and this year’s defending champion, Bedene.

 

 

 

2016 Noumea, Happy Valley, Bangkok and Mendoza Challenger Previews & Predictions

Posted by Admin on January 7, 2016
Posted in: ATP Challenger, Chris De Waard. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

2016 Noumea, Happy Valley, Bangkok and Mendoza Challenger Previews & Predictions
Chris de Waard, Tennis Atlantic

Challenger BNP Paribas Noumea

ATP Challenger Tour
Noumea, New Caledonia
4-9 January 2016
Hardcourt
Prize Money: $75,000

Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)

1: Adrian Mannarino (47)
2: Alejandro Falla (122)
3: Edouard Roger-Vasselin (123)
4: Adrian Menendez-Maceiras (143)
5: Blaz Rola (144)
6: Jordan Thompson (154)
7: Daniel Brands (159)
8: Henri Laaksonen (181)

The last direct acceptance is Maxime Chazal, ranked 256th. Former world #25 Julien Benneteau is making his comeback at this event on a wildcard, having been out of the game with an injury since March.

 

Top Half

Top seed Adrian Mannarino is a remarkable addition to the tournament, as the world #47 is far and away the highest ranked player in the draw, with second seed Alejandro Falla far behind at #122. Mannarino entered the tournament on a wildcard and judging by one of his tweets his participance is quite possibly due to missing the entry deadline of the ATP events. Naturally he is the big favorite in a half that also includes #5 seed Blaz Rola and #7 seed Daniel Brands.

Bottom Half

This half will probably come down to two Frenchman who also happen to be doubles partners, Benneteau and #3 seed Edouard Roger-Vasselin. Of course it’s hard to tell how Benneteau’s form is after being out of the game for such a long time, but given that Roger-Vasselin’s level dropped during last season and Benneteau won their last three encounters, I’m still inclined to give him the slight edge. One thing is for sure, the entourage of this Challenger will be miles away from the one at Roland Garros in 2014, when they won the doubles event together.

Predictions

Semi-finals:

Mannarino d. Brands
Benneteau d. Roger-Vasselin

Final:

Mannarino d. Benneteau

2016 City of Onkaparinga ATP Challenger

ATP Challenger Tour
Happy Valley, Australia
4-10 January 2016
Hardcourt, Plexipave
Prize Money: $75,000

Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)

1: Dudi Sela (100)
2: Bjorn Fratangelo (128)
3: Alejandro Gonzalez (141)
4: Igor Sijsling (145)
5: Aleksandr Nedovyesov (162)
6: Grega Zemlja (172)
7: Renzo Olivo (173)
8: Taylor Fritz (174)

The last direct acceptance Jan Satral, ranked 223rd.

 

 

Top Half

With seeds falling like flies, top seed Dudi Sela is one of two, together with Fritz in the bottom half, still standing after the first round. Naturally this makes him a strong favorite to make it to the final, with perhaps Andrey Golubev as an outsider to take him out. But Golubev is highly volatile and the steady Sela is clearly the safer bet.

Bottom Half

If Fritz can survive the encounter with his countryman Sarkissian he is the favorite to make it all the way to the final. Similarly, if Sarkissian comes through, I can see him going all the way. Competition will come from Dennis Novak, Alex Bolt and Aldin Setkic, who smell a golden opportunity to make it far with all the seeds going out early.

Predictions

Semi-finals:

Sela d. Golubev
Fritz d. Novak

Final:

Fritz d. Sela

Bangkok Open 2016

ATP Challenger Tour
Bangkok, Thailand
4-10 January 2016
Hardcourt, Plexipave
Prize Money: $50,000

Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)

1: Tatsuma Ito (119)
2: Yuichi Sugita (126)
3: Mikhail Youzhny (127)
4: Kimmer Coppejans (130)
5: Go Soeda (132)
6: Gastao Elias (133)
7: Konstantin Kravchuk (139)
8: Andre Ghem (149)

The last direct acceptance is Yasutaka Uchiyama, ranked 252nd.

 

Top Half

Veteran players will likely battle for a spot in the final here, but besides Youzhny 34-year-old Marco Chiudinelli and 35-year-old Stephane Robert being the main contenders. Both took out a seed in the first round, with Chiudinelli ousting top seed Ito convincingly, 6-2 6-3, while Robert beat #8 seed Andre Ghem in a marathon match, 6-7(3)7-6(4) 6-3.

Bottom Half

This half is hard to call, with a lot of players being in contention with a decent shot. #4 seed Kimmer Coppejans might be the best pick to reach the final, as the Belgian youngster simply has the most potential. If he can find his game, he should be able to outplay guys like Soeda, Kravchuk and Sugita.

Predictions

Semi-finals:

Youzhny d. Chiudinelli
Coppejans d. Kravchuk

Final:

Youzhny d. Coppejans

Torneo de Mendoza

ATP Challenger Tour
Mendoza, Argentina
5-10 January 2016
Red Clay
Prize Money: $50,000

Seeds (ATP ranking in parentheses)

1: Horacio Zeballos (124)
2: Rogerio Dutra Silva (125)
3: Roberto Carballes Baena (131)
4: Facundo Arguello (137)
5: Facundo Bagnis (140)
6: Andrej Martin (146)
7: Maximo Gonzalez (147)
8: Gerald Melzer (166)

The last direct acceptance is Enrique Lopez-Perez, ranked 402nd.

First round match-up to watch

 

Top Half

This half is dominated by home players, with four Argentineans being the seeds. Out of Zeballos, Arguello, Bagnis and Gonzalez it’s very difficult to pick one clear favorite and most of it will come down to their form of the day.

Bottom Half

Here it might come down to Jarry’s form. If he can find his game early on, he might be able to hit through Carballes Baena’s strong defense. However, that seems unlikely after a lenghty injury lay-off, making Carballes Baena a reasonable favorite to reach the final.

Predictions

Semi-finals:

Zeballos d. Arguello
Carballes Baena d. Melzer

Final:

Zeballos d. Carballes Baena

Chris De Waard (Challenger Tour Finals)

2015 ATP Challenger Tour Finals Preview, Predictions

Posted by Admin on November 25, 2015
Posted in: ATP, ATP Challenger, Chris De Waard. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

2015 Challenger Tour Finals Preview and Predictions
Chris De Waard, Tennis Atlantic

 

 

ATP Challenger Tour
Sao Paulo, Brazil
25-29 November 2015
Indoor Clay
Prize Money: $220,000

Entrants (ATP/Challenger ranking in parentheses)

1: Paolo Lorenzi (68/3)
2: Guido Pella (76/4)
3: Daniel Muñoz-De La Nava (87/2)
4: Marco Cecchinato (89/7)
5: Inigo Cervantes (98/8)
6: Radu Albot (120/10)
7: Farrukh Dustov (161/9)
8: Guilherme Clezar (186/>50)

A strong field will compete for the Challenger Tour Finals title, with seven of the top ten Challenger players of 2015 entering this event. Missing are #1 Hyeon Chung, #5 Yuki Bhambri and #6 John Millman, all of whom prefer to play on hardcourts and unsurprisingly aren’t travelling to the other side of the world to compete in a clay event. For the third year in a row the wild card has been awarded to Guilherme Clezar, who made an unexpected fairytale run last year when he beat countryman Joao Souza 7-6(4) 2-6 7-6(7) and Blaz Rola 6-4 6-3 to qualify for the semi-final. There he continued his spectacular run, fighting off Victor Estrella Burgos in undoubtedly the Challenger match of the year, 7-6(4) 6-7(0) 7-6(12). After losing 6-2 6-3 to Diego Schwartzman in the final he unfortunately wasn’t able to build on this result, as he finished 2015 outside of the top 50 in the Challenger standings.

Groups

Group A

Paolo Lorenzi
Daniel Muñoz-De La Nava
Inigo Cervantes
Farrukh Dustov

Group B

Guido Pella
Marco Cecchinato
Radu Albot
Guilherme Clezar

Round Robin Match-Ups To Watch

Paolo Lorenzi – Daniel Muñoz-De La Nava

The Challenger Tour is often announced as a breeding ground for new talent, but these two 33-year-olds couldn’t be further from that description. However, for Muñoz-De La Nava 2015 meant his first ever entrance into the top 100, so he surely is a new face in that way. The Spaniard, citing confidence and fitness as the biggest components of his sudden rise, achieved it in an impressive manner, starting the season outside of the top 200. After a slow start to the season he won the Napoli Challenger in early April and reached five more finals after that, taking down additional titles in Moscow and Meknes. He faced Lorenzi once this year, in the semi-final of Cortina, where the Italian comfortably won 6-2 6-4.

Lorenzi also won the final, claiming one of his four titles this year. Lorenzi is a late-bloomer as well, but has been hovering around the top 100 for six years now, reaching a career high ranking of #49 in March of 2013. He has sixteen career Challenger titles and 335 match wins, which he wants to add to in the coming years. If his health allows it, he wants to play four more years and reach 400 career wins. He can make a head start in Sao Paolo, starting the tournament as the favorite and in the conditions he loves the most, playing on an indoor clay court at high altitude.

Guido Pella – Marco Cecchinato

25-year-old Pella is no stranger to the Challenger Tour Finals, having won the event in 2012 and cracking the top 100 for the first time because of it. However, he experienced a setback and even dropped out of the top 200 just over a year ago. Now firmly back into the top 100, he aims to reach the top 50 in 2016. He feels that he is now ready for it mentally, saying that he wasn’t mentally strong enough to maintain a top 100 position when he was younger. Having won four titles this year, his most impressive victory came last week in Montevideo, where he beat home player and world #40 Pablo Cuevas 6-3 6-2 in the semi-final. In the final he beat fellow Challenger Tour Finals competitor Cervantes 7-5 2-6 6-4, coming into Sao Paulo on a high.

23-year-old Cecchinato made his debut in the top 100 this year after reaching the semi-final in San Benedetto. He can be called the king of consistency, reaching the semi-final of twelve Challengers this year, even though it only led to one final and one title. To reach one of those semi-finals, in Caltanissetta, he managed to double bagel fellow Challenger Tour Finals competitor Clezar.

Group A

 Dustov is the clear outsider in this group and it’s hard to see him win a match. The last match he played on clay was three months ago in Como, when he got humiliated by world #735 Carlos Gomez-Herrera in the first round, 6-1 6-1. Given the circumstances, surface and altitude, Lorenzi should have an edge here, but Muñoz-De La Nava likes these circumstances as well. He grew up in Madrid, where he managed to beat world #22 Sam Querrey in 2010, while he was still ranked outside of the top 300. Muñoz-De La Nava also told that he has had Sao Paulo as a big goal since midway through the season, so he should be very motivated. Cervantes is well in this race too, however, with a big win over world #73 Diego Schwartzman in the semi-final of Montevideo last week, before falling 7-5 2-6 6-4 to Pella.

Group B 

For Albot the same goes as with Dustov. He hasn’t been playing well in his last couple of tournaments and the last time he played on clay was over three months ago in Prague. Although he managed to reach the final there, he did it without beating a top 300 player. Then again, at least he played matches, Cecchinato is a big question mark given that he played his last match a month and a half ago. It might indicate that he isn’t taking the tournament all that seriously. After Clezar’s poor 2015 it’s hard to predict him to repeat his miracle run of last year. The man got double bageled by fellow group member Cecchinato this year, after all. Then again, it wouldn’t surprise me either, last year he came into the tournament on exactly the same note. But realistically you can’t go around predicting him to come in third or fourth.

Predictions 

Group A:

  1. Lorenzi
  2. Muñoz-De La Nava
  3. Cervantes
  4. Dustov

 

Group B:

  1. Pella
  2. Albot
  3. Cecchinato
  4. Clezar

 

Semi-finals:
Lorenzi d. Albot
Pella d. Muñoz-De La Nava

Final:
Pella d. Lorenzi

Post-Match Interviews: @StefanKozlov, @FTiafoe Complete American Teen Sweep @CvilleTennis

Posted by Admin on November 4, 2015
Posted in: ATP, ATP Challenger, Charlottesville, USTA. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Post-Match Interviews: @StefanKozlov, @FTiafoe Complete American Teen Sweep @CvilleTennis

Charlottesville Men’s Pro Challenger
A USTA Pro Circuit Event
Tuesday, November 3
The Boar’s Head Sports Club
Charlottesville, Va.
Purse: $50,000
Surface: Hard, DecoTurf-Indoor

Tuesday, November 3 – RESULTS
Singles – First Round
Frances Tiafoe, United States d. Malek Jaziri (1), Tunisia 7-6(5), 6-4
Q-Stefan Kozlov, United States d. WC-Colin Altamirano 6-3, 6-0
Alex Kuznetsov, United States d. Q-Takanyi Garanganga, Zimbabwe 5-7, 7-6(4), 6-0
ALT-Tommy Paul, United States d. Chase Buchanan, United States 6-2, 6-4
WC-Ernesto Escobedo, United States d. Liam Broady (8), Great Britain 0-6, 7-6(5), 6-3
Mitchell Krueger, United States d. WC-Mac Styslinger, United States, 4-6, 6-1, 6-0
Jared Donaldson (6), United States d. Marek Michalicka, Czech Republic 7-6(3), 6-4
Q-Noah Rubin, United States d. Eric Quigley, United States 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-4
Q-David Rice, Great Britain d. James Duckworth (2), Australia 4-6, 6-4, 6-2

Doubles – First Round
Daniel Smethurst and Darren Walsh, Great Britain d. Sekou Bangoura, United States and Marek Michalicka, Czech Republic 6-3, 7-6(5)
Bjorn Fratangelo, United States and Joshua Milton, Great Britain d. WC-Luca Corinteli and Ryan Shane, United States 6-4, 7-6(5)
Henri Laaksonen and Luca Margaroli, Switzerland d. Q-Reilly Opelka and Tommy Paul, United States 6-2, 6-2.

ORDER OF PLAY – WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 04, 2015
COURT 7 start 11:00 am
D. Kutrovsky (BUL) vs [WC] E. Escobedo (USA)
[5] B. Fratangelo (USA) vs M. Krueger (USA)
[3] T. Smyczek (USA) vs S. Bangoura (USA)

Not Before 5:00 pm
[3] P. Polansky (CAN) / A. Shamasdin (CAN) vs [WC] T. Kwiatkowski (USA) / M. Styslinger (USA)
H. Laaksonen (SUI) vs [4] R. Harrison (USA)

COURT 9 start 11:00 am
F. Nielsen (DEN) vs [7] B. Kavcic (SLO)
Not Before 12:30 pm
L. Broady (GBR) / D. Evans (GBR) vs [2] C. Buchanan (USA) / T. Sandgren (USA)
After Appropriate Rest – [1] J. Brunstrom (SWE) / F. Nielsen (DEN) vs D. Rice (GBR) / M. Willis (GBR)
After Appropriate Rest – A. Bossel (SUI) / M. Krueger (USA) vs J. Chaplin (AUS) / J. Duckworth (AUS)
D. Smethurst (GBR) / D. Walsh (GBR) vs [4] D. O’hare (IRL) / J. Salisbury (GBR)