Sam Sippel and Yohann Prinsen, Vero Beach’s “King of the Hill” wild card entry into the $15,000 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships USTA Pro Circuit event, performed admirably Tuesday in their first round doubles match against ATP-ranked professionals but fell just a bit short.
Sippel and Prinsen were defeated by the No. 2 seeded team of Strong Kirchheimer and Karl Poling of the United States 6-2, 6-4. Prinsen was playing in his first-ever pro tennis match and Sippel was playing in only his second, the first being when he was 15 years old. The duo received entry into this USTA Pro Circuit event by virtue of their finishes at Vero Beach’s annual “King of the Hill” tennis competition, played among Vero Beach area standout players and teaching pros. Sippel, who teaches at the Orchid Island Club, won the event this year and Prinsen, the director of tennis at Vero Club Tennis, finished third, replacing second-place finisher Chase Perez Blanco. The Mardy Fish tournament and “King of the Hill” founder Gigi Casapu have had an agreement for the last nine years to award the winner and runner-up of KOTH a doubles wild card into this professional tournament.
After losing the first set, Sippel and Prinsen vaulted to a 4-1 lead in the second set and seemed primed to force the set to a decisive 10-point match tiebreaker. However Krichheimer picked up the audible positive self-talk to himself and Poling and the duo rolled through five games in a row to close out the victory.
Bad Luck, Then Good Luck for Oldest Ranked Singles Player On the ATP Computer
Ryan Haviland received some bad luck in his final round Mardy Fish qualifying match Tuesday. He squandered five set points against former Virginia Tech standout Ryan Dickerson but when Dickerson had his first set point, he won it, in somewhat controversial fashion. Trailing 6-7 in the first set tiebreaker, Haviland hit what he thought was a winner. Dickerson stared at the ball mark for about 20 seconds, then called it out. When a roving umpire came to inspect the mark, he confirmed the out call, but Haviland believed he was looking at the wrong mark. Haviland then quickly went down 5-0 in the second before losing 7-6 (6), 6-1. However, shortly after his loss, Haviland found out that he would, after all, advance into the main draw of the event as a “lucky loser” – taking a place in the draw to replace Jagger Leach, the17-year-old son of Hall of Famer Lindsay Davenport, who withdrew from the event with an elbow injury.
“It’s the first time in my over 20 year history of playing pro tennis that I have received a lucky loser entry” said Haviland, who at age 44 and ranked No. 1636, is the oldest player ranked in the ATP singles rankings.
Haviland plays No. 1044-ranked Preston Brown, who is 21 years his junior, in the first round on Wednesday.
From Sea Oaks “Wild Card” Event To Vero Beach Main Draw
Ilija Palavestra, the Lake Worth, Florida 17-year-old, was the runner-up at the annual Mardy Fish Wild Card tournament at Sea Oaks, earning him a qualifying tournament wild card entry. Palavestra made the most of his opportunity by winning two matches to earn a spot in the main draw in a pro event for the first time. Palavestra, of Serbian heritage, will play Ricardo Rodriguez of Venezuela, the 2021 Mardy Fish singles runner-up, on Wednesday.
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