By Harvey Fialkov
Alex Rybakov came up through junior tennis with close friends Tommy Paul and Reilly Opelka.
Yet, while Paul and Opelka have reached career-highs of world No. 8 and No. 17 respectively, and have won a combined nine ATP titles, Rybakov is still toiling in the minor leagues of tennis, ranked No. 341.
At 29, Rybakov, a Long Island native who has lived in Coral Springs since he was 7, hasn’t given up on his dreams of joining his friends in the upper echelon of the sport and competing in Grand Slams and Masters 1000 events.
On a blistering humid Saturday afternoon, the top-seeded Rybakov came from behind to notch a 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 victory over No. 1,240-ranked, 23-year-old Liam Krall of Bronxville, N.Y., to reach the final of the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation ITF Futures USTA Pro Circuit event at the Sea Oaks Beach & Tennis Club.
“Those are the guys that are kind of my peers,’’ said Rybakov, who reached a career-high No. 261 last October. “Obviously, I got up to 14 in the world in juniors, so I had a pretty good junior career. I mean, those guys, they turn pro. I went to college, so those are really like my buddies. So, it’s awesome seeing them up there and kind of doing what I aspire to do.”
Rybakov was a three-time All-American at Texas Christian University and made it to the NCAA semis in 2019. He has also reached qualifying rounds in 10 ATP Tour tournaments, only making one draw at the ATP 250 Dallas Open in 2023 where he lost a first-round match to Marcos Giron, then ranked No. 55.
He wants more. That can start with his sixth lower-tier pro title (and 15 precious ranking points) on Sunday morning where he will face an unranked opponent in Brazilian qualifier Joaquim de Almeida, who seems to have a cat-like nine lives this week. More on that later.
“I was playing almost a full schedule of Challengers last year,’’ said Rybakov, who smacked five aces and a basket of winners off his sweet one-handed lefty backhand. “I got up to 261. So, obviously the next goal is to get back there closer to Slam [qualifying] points. Obviously, being in the Slam qualifying is a huge goal of mine. So hopefully that’s what I’m shooting towards. But this is the first time I’m dropping down to play Futures in a while. So, to get to a final right away is really positive for me.”
Krall, 23, a four-year standout at Southern Methodist University, features a whippet forehand, but after playing a flawless first set ending with two consecutive aces, he came back from a long set break and immediately dropped nine consecutive points to help give the more experienced Rybakov an early 3-0 lead. Rybakov’s pinpoint serves, deft drop shots and mature net attack led to a 6-1 set to send the semifinal into a decisive third set.
“I think I checked out a little bit, and my focus was elsewhere on my shot selection and serve awareness,’’ Krall said. “My movement went away as a result. I spent the whole set trying to get it back but at that point he’s got momentum. I have to be more mentally solid throughout the course of the match.”
Krall, perhaps not used to the oppressive heat of Florida, seemed out of gas. After dropping the second set, the two exchanged early breaks but Rybakov went up 3-1 in a game he double-faulted twice. Rybakov made a nifty stretch volley for 4-2 and eventually converted his second match point when Krall’s rocket forehand drifted into the alley. Rybakov raised his arms to the sunny sky and took a bow in celebration.
“Luckily, I’ve been in these conditions before, so I know kind of how to treat it, but it’s not easy,’’ Rybakov said. “Liam came out hitting the ball huge, hitting his spots. I was just trying to hang in there. I thought he outplayed me in the first set. So, I just hung around and I’m lucky to get through and looking forward to it tomorrow.”
However, Sunday’s 11 a.m. Mother’s Day final won’t be a day at the nearby beach, as Almeida is a classic South American clay-courter, who seems content to get everything back with high topspin forehands until his tiring opponent commits an error. He outlasted fourth-seeded Quinn Vandecasteele of Murray, Utah, 6-4, 6-2 to reach his first career final at any pro level.
The match contained 11 service breaks, including the first five games of the second set. It was a virtual break-fest. While the 23-year-old Vandecasteele seemed to jump out of his shoes when hitting huge forehands, expending a lot of energy, Almeida was a wall, who occasionally would rip a forehand down the line to set up an easy angled volley.
Vandecasteele, who played four years at the University of Oregon, led 4-2, 15-30 in the second set when the match was delayed so the trainer could bandage his bloody shin after he inadvertently slammed it with his racket. A fatigued Vandecasteele, who’s ranked No. 449, then dropped the next four games and first set.
At 3-2 of the second set, Almeida finally held on a huge overhead to elicit a celebratory scream. He immediately broke again and ended the match on a thrilling rally with a forehand volley into the open court.
“It was very hot, but I prepared myself before with the mentality of going for each ball with a purpose,’’ said Almeida, who only played one year of pro tennis in 2024, while attending Virginia Commonwealth University and Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. “Understanding what I needed to do. These conditions are very slow, which definitely helps me out on the type of game that I like to play.”
Almeida, 24, who was ranked a career-high 1244 in 2024, lost his ranking for inactivity in singles in 2025, and played his first tournament of 2026 this week in Vero Beach when he barely got selected (second to last) to get into qualifying.
Almeida was nearly knocked out in his first-round match, having to save four match points to upset seventh-seeded Strong Kirchheimer in a grueling three-setter. He then took advantage of qualifier Matthew Segura’s heat sickness in another marathon three-setter.
In the quarterfinals, Almeida dropped the first set 0-6 to wild card J.J. Wolf, the former world No. 39 who’s early in his comeback from major shoulder surgery, before winning 0-6, 7-6 (7), 1-0 (retired).
Wolf was unable to convert two match points late in the second set to force a third set. However, after Almeida took the first game, the 27-year-old Wolf of Cincinnati (and now Boynton Beach] chose to retire due to pain in his surgically repaired shoulder.
From her two qualifying matches to the finals, Almeida saved eight match points in three different matches enroute to the final.
Almeida spoke of a troubled youth when he was on his own after leaving home at 13 and getting involved with drugs and alcohol.
“I have to glorify God to everything that he has given to me, and the opportunity to be here is just because of him,’’ he said. “I tried to give my life away and literally God saved my life. I mean, if it wasn’t for him, I wasn’t going to be alive right now, so everything that I do is to glorify him.
“It was in a big city and that’s when I kind of got lost, but thanks for my family that since I was young, gave me the foundation. God found me when I was in the deepest time of my life, and that’s when my life started to go back to normal.’’
Okonkwo and Heck win doubles title
The top-seeded dynamic duo of Minnesotan Hunter Heck and Oliver Okonkwo continued their dominant form this week with their fourth consecutive straight-set victory, this time a 6-2, 6-2 victory over the much taller tandem of Preston Brown of Boca Raton and Chile’s Diego Jarry Fillol Saturday afternoon to win the doubles title.
It marked the second consecutive doubles title for Okonkwo and Heck, who just dropped one set in their Orange Park doubles championship run last week. The 6-foot-2 Okonkwo, 26, who owns a massive serve, also has won doubles titles this year in Sherbrooke, Canada and Las Vegas with different partners.
“Obviously, we can play doubles, but we love singles as well,’’ said Okonkwo, now living in Evanston, a suburb of Chicago. “We like to focus on singles.”
This was Heck’s second career pro title after seven previous finals appearances.
“It makes my job a lot easier when he’s serving the way he has been,’’ said the 5-7 Heck, 23, who briefly played doubles with Okonkwo when the two attended the University of Illinois. Okonkwo graduated from University of Iowa but got his Masters’ degree in Kinesiology at UI.
It was no easy task to lob over or blast through 6-foot-6 Preston Brown of Boca Raton and 6-5 Diego Jarry Fillol of Chile.
Fillol, 23, reached his first pro final after spending two years playing college tennis at Saint Mary’s College in the Bay area and two years at the University of North Carolina.
He is hoping to follow in the clay-court footsteps of his ATP-playing brother Nicolas Jarry and grandfather Jaime Fillol, both who reached the Top 20 at one point of their sterling professional tennis careers. Diego Fillol was asked if it was more pressure to obtain the success of his 30-year-old brother -– who has won three ATP titles (4 finals including the 2024 Rome Masters 1000 to reach his career-high No.16 ranking) – and his grandfather (8 ATP titles, 15 finals and No. 14 in 1974) or easier.
“It’s amazing,’’ said Fillol, whose parents Allan and Cecilia were professional volleyball players and Aunt Catalina Fillol serves as tournament director in the ATP 250 Santiago event in their hometown.
“They chopped down the trees and made a path, and we just got to follow it. I would say it’s a balance, and also, you got to learn what perspective and what mindset to take it. They dealt me the cards, and some people rather see the pressure that it gives you, and I just like to see all the lessons, all the tips that they can give you. I think it’s a little bit more healthy to look at the other side.”
Leave a Reply