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Wild Card Georgia Bulldog Teenager Ethan Quinn To Face Former Florida Gator Sekou Begoura In Sunday Mardy Fish Singles Final At The Boulevard

Randy Walker · May 1, 2022 · Leave a Comment

Eighteen-year-old Ethan Quinn of Fresno, Calif., and a redshirt freshman at the University of Georgia, will face 30-year-old former Florida Gator standout Sekou Bangoura of Bradenton, Fla., in Sunday’s not-before-2 pm singles final of the $15,000 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships USTA Pro Circuit ITF World Tennis Tour.

Quinn, a wild-card entry into the event with an ATP ranking of No. 1085, defeated No. 2 seed and world No. 581 John McNally 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3 in Saturday’s semifinals. Bangoura, a singles and doubles runner-up at this event in 2019, defeated top-seed Liam Draxl of Canada 6-2, 6-4 in the early semifinal.

Quinn served for the match at 5-4 in the second set but double-faulted when holding match point, only to have his serve broken. At 5-5 in the second-set tiebreaker, Quinn threw in another double fault, while McNally, the former Ohio State standout and older brother of WTA doubles star Caty McNally, took advantage of the nerves to force a third-set on the next point. Quinn, however, recalibrated for the third set and closed out the match with a rocket serve and his sling shot forehand.

Watch Quinn’s match point here on YouTube: https://youtu.be/vtZi77uc4mU

Watch Quinn’s post-match interview with Randy Walker here: https://youtu.be/IvW3Fl1a4jg where he also discusses his camaraderie this week with doubles partner Nico Godsick and Godsick’s mom, Mary Joe Fernandez, the former two-time Olympic gold medalist as well as U.S. Fed Cup captain and U.S. Olympic tennis coach.

Play will start Sunday at 1 pm with the doubles final, featuring the wild card team of 29-year-old Ricardo Rodriguez of Venezuela and 16-year-old Nishesh Basavareddy of Carmel, Indiana facing the University of Kentucky duo of Draxl and Millen Hurrion of Great Britain.

The post-match on-court interview with Rodriguez and Basavareddy can be found here where Rodriguez talks about reaching his third career final in Vero Beach and his around-the-post shot in the semifinal, while Basavareddy talks about his mentorship from fellow Carmel, Indiana tennis player Rajeev Ram here: https://youtu.be/OuxnOxkWWrk

Read Harvey Fialkov’s story on Rodriguez and Basavareddy here: https://sports.yahoo.com/rodriguez-feels-home-veros-mardy-210019384.html

Nico Godsick, Ethan Quinn and Mary Joe Fernandez on Center Court at The Boulevard

Features, Vero Beach Champions Ethan Quinn, Mardy Fish, Vero Beach

Cooper Williams, Andy Murray’s Florida Practice Partner, Earns First ATP Ranking Point In Vero Beach

Randy Walker · April 28, 2022 · Leave a Comment

Cooper Williams, the 17-year-old New Yorker and a recent practice partner of Andy Murray in Orlando, will  face No. 3 seed Sekou Bangoura in Thursday’s 6 pm night match in the second round of the $15,000 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships at The Boulevard.

Williams had a memorable Wednesday evening in Vero Beach, defeating Alejandro Franco of Ecuador 7-6 (1), 6-0 to earn his career ATP ranking point. To boot, there to watch the hallmark event was Vero Beach resident and tennis Hall of Famer Ivan Lendl, who now coaches Murray and oversaw the practice sessions with Williams in Orlando.

For Bangoura, his match with Williams will mark his second straight match against an teenage American after beating reigning Easter Bowl champion Alex Mickelsen 4-6 6-3 6-0 in Wednesday’s first round. Bangoura is a former standout at the University of Florida who competed in the main draw of doubles at the U.S. Open in 2010. Bangoura was a singles and doubles finalist at The Boulevard back in 2019.

While Williams was earning his first ATP point on the Grandstand court at The Boulevard with Lendl watching on, two other tennis legends, two-time Olympic gold medalist Mary Joe Fernandez and Roger Federer’s agent Tony Godsick were watching their 17-year-old son Nico play against top-seed Liam Draxl of Canada. Despite being up an early service break, Godsick was unable stage the upset, falling 6-4, 6-3.

Godsick, however, is still alive in doubles with partner Ethan Quinn and will play their doubles quarterfinal not before 3 pm Thursday. Quinn, who is undergoing a redshirt freshman year at the University of Georgia, plays Alex Knaff, a Davis Cup player from Luxembourg, in the second match on Grandstand Thursday. Ryan Shane, the 2015 NCAA singles champion for the University of Virginia, plays former University of Georgia player Emil Reinberg third on stadium Thursday.

Read Harvey Fialkov’s TCPalm story “Vero Beach pros make strong impression at Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships” here https://www.tcpalm.com/story/sports/2022/04/27/vero-beach-tennis-pros-make-strong-impression-mardy-fish-tourney/9559448002/

View Thursday’s schedule here: https://www.usta.com/content/dam/usta/2022-pro-circuit/20220425_vero_beach_m15/OP.pdf

View the updated singles draw here https://www.usta.com/content/dam/usta/2022-pro-circuit/20220425_vero_beach_m15/MDS.pdf

View the updated doubles draw here

https://www.usta.com/content/dam/usta/2022-pro-circuit/20220425_vero_beach_m15/MDD.pdf
Cooper Williams
Cooper Williams

Features, Vero Beach Champions Andy Murray, Cooper Williams, Ivan Lendl, Mardy Fish, Vero Beach

Perez-Blanco, Hamza Lose Close Doubles Contest At Mardy Fish Tennis

Randy Walker · April 27, 2022 · Leave a Comment

Local Vero Beach teaching pros Chase Perez Blanco of the Quail Valley Club and Slim Hamza of The Moorings Club entertained about 500 enthusiastic fans Tuesday night competing in a main draw doubles match at an official professional tennis tournament at the $15,000 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships at The Boulevard.  The two received the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation automatic wild card for the winner and runner-up of the annual “King of the Hill” competition, benefitting Youth Guidance, won by Perez-Blanco. The dup faced Joshua Sheehy of Arlington, Texas and Jakub Wojcik of Delray Beach, Florida and had two set points at 6-4 in the first-set tiebreaker, but lost 7-6 (9-7) 6-4.

Wojcik saved the first set point in the first-set tiebreaker with a ferocious backhand return at 6-4 as you can see here Jakub Wojcik Saves Set Point In Mardy Fish Doubles Against Slim Hamza Serve https://youtu.be/8LFgFbby-Rk and with an unreturnable serve to save the second set point here https://youtu.be/OonkUFAlP7U

The post-match on-court interview with Sheehy and Wojcik can be found here https://youtu.be/f3VHGDcxbX8

The post-match on-court interviews with Hamza and Perez-Blanco can be found here: https://youtu.be/xkkR0Mv8r-k

Slim Hamza, Chase Perez-Blanco pose with some of their fans
Slim Hamza, Chase Perez-Blanco pose with some of their fans

Features, Vero Beach Champions Chase Perez-Blanco, Mardy Fish, Slim Hamza, The Boulevard

Nico Godsick, Son of Mary Joe Fernandez, Faces Top Seed Liam Draxl 6 pm Wednesday at Mardy Fish Tennis at The Boulevard

Randy Walker · April 27, 2022 · Leave a Comment

Vero Beach Locals Perez-Blanco, Hamza Fall In Close First-Round Doubles Match

Nico Godsick, the son of American tennis legend Mary Joe Fernandez and Roger Federer’s agent Tony Godsick, will see if he can knock off his second No. 1 seed in two days at the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships Wednesday night at 6 pm against top-seed Liam Draxl of Canada.

Godsick and doubles partner Ethan Quinn upset the No. 1 seeds Alejandro Franco of Colombia and Antonia March of Ecuador 7-6 (2), 2-6, 10-6 on Tuesday in the highly-entertaining first round match in doubles. He will go for the double sweep of the No. 1 seeds in the tournament against Draxl, the top player from the University of Kentucky who just on Sunday played in the Southeastern Conference team championship match in Athens, Georgia. Fernandez, the two-time Olympic gold medalist in doubles and a singles finalist at the French and Australian Opens, was in attendance at The Boulevard on Tuesday, along with her husband, also known as the co-creator of the Laver Cup team competition. Godsick was also the one-time agent for Mardy Fish during his pro career.

John McNally will start off the tennis “family affair” theme on Stadium Court at noon against a “lucky loser” who will replace Blu Baker, who withdrew with an arm injury after his doubles match Tuesday. McNally is the brother of Caty McNally, a doubles player on the WTA Tour who plays with Coco Gauff.

The full schedule of all 16 first round matches can be found here: https://www.usta.com/content/dam/usta/2022-pro-circuit/20220425_vero_beach_m15/OP.pdf

The updated doubles draw can be found here: https://www.usta.com/content/dam/usta/2022-pro-circuit/20220425_vero_beach_m15/MDD.pdf

The singles draw can be found here: https://www.usta.com/content/dam/usta/2022-pro-circuit/20220425_vero_beach_m15/MDS.pdf

The most anticipated match of the 2022 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships came on Tuesday night when approximately 500 fans came to support local teaching pros Chase Perez Blanco of the Quail Valley Club and Slim Hamza of The Moorings Club. The two received the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation automatic wild card for the winner and runner-up of the annual “King of the Hill” competition, benefitting Youth Guidance, won by Perez-Blanco. The dup faced Joshua Sheehy of Arlington, Texas and Jakub Wojcik of Delray Beach, Florida and had two set points at 6-4 in the first-set tiebreaker, but lost 7-6 (8-6) 6-4.

The post-match on-court interview with Sheehy and Wojcik can be found here https://youtu.be/f3VHGDcxbX8

The post-match on-court interviews with Hamza and Perez-Blanco can be found here: https://youtu.be/xkkR0Mv8r-k

Harvey Fialkov’s story from the early final-round qualifying matches from Tuesday can be found here:

Jesse Flores, Blaise Bicknell Wave Their National Flags At Mardy Fish Tennis
Nico Godsick and Ethan Quinn at Mardy Fish Tennis
Nico Godsick and Ethan Quinn at Mardy Fish Tennis

Features, Vero Beach Champions Mardy Fish, Nico Godsick, Vero Beach

Jesse Flores, Blaise Bicknell Wave Their National Flags At Mardy Fish Tennis

Randy Walker · April 27, 2022 · Leave a Comment

By Harvey Fialkov

Not everyone could be a Carlos Alcaraz, the teenage phenom from Spain, who at 18 has already cracked the Top 10 after winning Rio and Barcelona, two ATP 500 events, and the Miami Open Masters 1000 tournament last month.

Most 18 to 20-somethings are toiling in the minor leagues of tennis, traversing the globe on a shoestring budget in search of valuable ranking points that would allow them direct entry into ATP events and Grand Slams where the big money is.

Most never make it in a highly competitive sport that hasn’t seen an American win a Grand Slam since Andy Roddick captured the US Open in 2003 at 21. So why even attempt to qualify at this week’s Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships at The Boulevard Village and Tennis Club, an $15,000 ITF World Tennis Tour Pro Circuit event?

Not every player set their goal to be No. 1 in the world or win majors. They simply love the game and relish playing for their country.

“This is my first full season on Tour and I love it,’’ said Jesse Armando Flores Knowles after defeating Abraham Asaba of Ghana, 6-3, 6-3 in qualifying to make it into the 32-main singles draw which begins on Wednesday. “I love the travel; I love the whole lifestyle, meeting new people, seeing the cultures. It’s the best part of the job.”

Flores, ranked 1080 in singles, is a native of Canada who switched his nationality to his parents’ native country of Costa Rica after high school graduation partly to take advantage of the federation’s ongoing financial support. The Canadians are loaded with Top 50 players, such as 16th-ranked Denis Shapovalov, who Flores claims he’s 3-3 against when they were juniors.

“I was four years older but even then, you could see Denis had the ‘it’ factor,’’ Flores said.

Flores’ dreams don’t necessarily include winning the US Open but rather to represent his country in Davis Cup and the 2024 Olympics. He has already done the former, wearing his country’s flag colors (blue, white and red) in a Davis Cup tie against Bulgaria, a 4-1 loss in March 2020.

“In order to get into the Group 3 of Davis Cup I had to play 12 matches, singles and doubles, in six days,’’ said Flores, who lost two tight singles matches to Bulgarians ranked 537 or lower; but did win his doubles match.

“That was the greatest weekend of my life representing Costa Rica at home, especially the doubles match which I won on match point (12-10) in the third-set tiebreaker with a diving lob winner. I was five feet off the ground. My dream of playing in the Olympics is alive and it goes without saying that’s the highest honor for any athlete.”

Flores is also an unofficial Floridian, spending summers from 14-17 training at camps run by renowned coach Nick Saviano at Veltri Tennis Center in Plantation. He played college tennis at the University of Miami, finishing in the top 20 in doubles with a win over No. 1 Wake Forest.

Flores lives in Fort Lauderdale and trains with his coach Levar Harper-Griffith, who grew up with Mardy Fish and Andy Roddick in Boca Raton. In fact, Harper-Griffith, once ranked 224 in singles and 184th in doubles, played doubles with both and won a first-round doubles match with Roddick at the 1999 US Open. Flores patterns his serve and forehand after Roddick, the last American to be ranked No. 1.

Asaba, 24, who played for Virginia Tech and is currently No. 1 in Ghana, not a hotbed for tennis pros, also played Davis Cup and is ranked a respectable 718 in doubles, having won the ITF Orange Park Futures doubles title last week with Sekou Bangoura, the runner-up here in singles and doubles in 2019.

Slim Hamza, assistant pro at The Moorings, who’s playing in Tuesday night’s featured doubles match, also had the patriotic honor of playing Davis Cup for Tunisia.

Blaise Bicknell, 20, who made it into the 32-player singles draw with a 5-0 win over xxx, who retired with a forearm injury, is a proud No. 1 from Kingston, Jamaica, where the most well-known tennis player was Dustin Brown, 37, who was ranked 64th in 2016.

The blonde-haired Jamaican, ranked 1076, had the thrill of representing Jamaica — more known for track stars than tennis stars — in a recent Davis Cup tie against Greece, where more than 1,000 fans were screaming for his opponent, Petros Tsitsipas, the younger brother of world No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas. However, Bicknell prevailed 6-3, 7-5 over the 808th-ranked Greek, before losing his next singles match to Thanos Aristotelis, 6-4. 6-4, as Greece won 4-1.

“We surprised everyone on the first day coming out with 2-0 lead,’’ Bicknell said. “It was extremely loud. There’s nothing like playing for your country.”

Bicknell, who did get into the Junior US Open, a few years ago, is hoping to win the year-ending Slam, but for now, he will proudly play for Jamaican pride.

“I’m the No. 1 player in my country so I have something to prove,’’ said Bicknell, who won a national championship with Florida last year before transferring to Tennessee.

Jesse Flores with coach Levar Harper-Griffith
Jesse Flores with coach Levar Harper-Griffith

Features, Vero Beach Champions Blaise Bicknell, Jesse Flores, Mardy Fish Tennis, Vero Beach

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24 Mar

Yosuke Watanuki, who beat Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club’s James Van Deinse in the Monterrey, Mexico Challenger last month, beat Benoit Paire in the first round of the #MiamiOpen

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North of West Palm Beach, Florida’s Treasure Coast attracts those seeking uncrowded beaches, fishing, dining outdoors and, oh yes, pickleball https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-laid-back-travelers-love-floridas-treasure-coast-11673636467?reflink=share_mobilewebshare

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7 Mar

“King of the Hill” finale story featured today on ⁦@TCPalm⁩ https://www.tcpalm.com/story/sports/tennis/2023/03/06/local-tennis-van-deinse-rios-earn-wild-card-draw-for-mardy-fish-tournament/69975663007/

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Congrats to Vero Beach’s Mason Cisco who won a L4 USTA tournament in Orlando Sunday!

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