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Chase Perez-Blanco

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

Perez-Blanco and Hamza Ready For Tuesday Night Mardy Fish Clash, Mendoza Nearly Pulls Big Upset In ITF Tour Debut

Randy Walker · April 26, 2022 · Leave a Comment

Most of the players in this week’s annual Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships at The Boulevard Village and Tennis Club are still chasing their dream to be among the sport’s elite.

There’s Sekou Bangoura of Bradenton, Florida, 30, who has notched wins over the likes of No. 17-ranked Reilly Opelka, No. 16-ranked Denis Shapovalov and No. 35-ranked Tommy Paul in their formative years. Or Ryan Shane of Falls Church, Va., who won the 2015 NCAA singles title for the University of Virginia. Or 28-year-old Ricardo Rodriguez, the all-time winning Davis Cup player from Venezuela and a finalist in Vero Beach in 2018 and 2021.

Then there are a couple of local teaching tennis pros like Chase Perez-Blanco and Slim Hamza, who gave up their dreams of playing on the ATP Tour after solid college careers at University of Florida and University of Utah (and University of Las Vegas), respectively. But they are quite content teaching juniors and adults in Vero Beach.

However, the two will get their chance against a field of ATP-ranked professional players when they compete in the main draw of the doubles competition of this $15,000 ITF World Tennis Tour event that is part of the U.S. Tennis Association Pro Circuit. Perez-Blanco, a teaching pro at Vero Beach’s Quail Valley Club, and Hamza, who works at The Moorings Club, will play their first-round match in the featured evening match on Tuesday not before 6 pm. The two earned their position in the doubles tournament by finishing first and second, respectively, via Vero Beach’s annual “King of the Hill” competition, featuring local tennis talent.

“We’re obviously excited to play,’’ said the 26-year-old Perez-Blanco. “There’s not a lot of pressure on us to win the tournament or the match. We’re just excited to go out and play competitive tennis, which we don’t do very often anymore. It’ll be fun for the tennis community of Vero Beach.  That’s why we love to do it, to see everyone out there cheering. It brings two different clubs together, The Moorings and Quail, all rooting for one team. We just hope we put on a good show.”

Perez-Blanco, a Miami native who had an outstanding high school and college career, with his highlight in Gainesville being part of the 2016 SEC championship Gators squad. He’s ranked sixth all-time in Gators history for most combined singles and doubles victories.

Perez-Blanco, who’s just 5-8 but has a, “scary forehand,’’ according to Hamza, has won the “King of the Hill” tournament the last three years it was held. He only played the Fish event in 2019 when he and his brother-in-law Andrew Butz lost a third-set tiebreaker (10-8) to the ATP-ranked doubles team of Andrew Watson and Paul Oosterbaan. Perez-Blanco skipped the 2020 event because he had just got married to Christiana Butz and decided to, “party instead of training.”

“I played some Futures, but I knew once I graduated that would be the end of competitive tennis, and it would be time to move on to start a new chapter,’’ he said.

           Hamza, 29, who played Davis Cup for Tunisia, was once ranked as high as No. 69 in the ITF World Junior rankings. However, serious knee and back injuries punctuated an outstanding college career (No. 34th in singles, two-time PAC Player of the Week), and all but dashed his professional aspirations.

“That was the dream, but my body let me down,’’ said the 6-foot Hamza, who earned three ATP singles ranking points after winning three matches in three Futures events in Tunisia in 2010 and ’14. “It was very hard coming from a small country that doesn’t give much financial aid. …I left competition behind and am a tennis pro at The Moorings. My priority on Tuesday is to entertain the people.”

To prove Hamza’s point, the highest-ranked Tunisian in men’s tennis is Aziz Dougas at No. 418. However, Ons Jabeur is ranked 10th in the WTA and is the first Arab to win a title (the pre-Wimbledon event in Birmingham, England last year) and first to reach the quarterfinals of any Grand Slam tournament. Also, in the pre-Open Era, Hall of Famer Nicola Pietrangeli, who played for Italy but was born in Tunisia, won 44 titles, including two French Opens (1959 and ’60).

“We have nothing to lose, just go out there, swing freely and if it goes our way we’ll take it,’’ Hamza smiled. “Then Roland Garros. Don’t get me dreaming!”

Segura Stars In Qualifying Win, Mendoza In Qualifying Loss       

Many of the first round qualifying matches in singles Monday were one-sided, but one of the more exciting matches featured Vero Beach’s Sebastian Mendoza, who briefly threatened to pull off a major upset. Playing in his first ever match on the professional ITF World Tennis Tour, Mendoza, who was the No. 1 player on Vero Beach High School’s team in 2021, lost 6-1, 7-5 to No. 1214-ranked Joao Loureiro of Brazil, nearly extending the match to a match-deciding 10-point match tiebreaker, which is the format for qualifying round matches at this level of professional tennis.  Mendoza, who is taking a year off before deciding on where to play college tennis, actually served for the second set at 5-4 against his much more accomplished opponent, before losing. However, the loss proved a valuable experience for Mendoza and his confidence, proving that he can compete against professional competition as he explained in this post-match video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeP9a-A9W_E

James Van Deinse, the co-owner of the Vero Beach Tennis Club and the boys’ coach at Vero Beach High School, was defeated by Hernando Escurra, a member of Paraguay’s Davis Cup team, 6-1, 6-1.

Matthew Segura, the three-time champion of the Mardy Fish “Wild Card” event at Sea Oaks, successfully won his first round qualifying match beating 15-year-old Meecah Bigun 6-3, 6-4

            Blaise Bicknell, a member of Jamaica’s Davis Cup team, capped his 6-0, 6-0 win over Michael Defelice with an under-hand ace.

The match schedule for Tuesday can be found here: https://www.usta.com/content/dam/usta/2022-pro-circuit/20220425_vero_beach_m15/OP.pdf

The updated qualifying draw can be found here:

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

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

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

The DRAW CEREMONY for singles can be found here: https://youtu.be/23Yrp9bOxpc

MONDAY AGATE SCORES – FIRST ROUND QUALIFYING

Blaise BICKNELL (JAM) [2] def. Michael DEFELICE (USA) 6-0 6-0

Alvaro GUILLENMEZA (ECU) [1] def. Jakub OSTAJEWSKI (USA) 6-1 6-2

Jakub WOJCIK (USA) [4] def. Tom DYNKA (CAN) 3-6 6-1 [10-4]

Drew VAN ORDERLAIN(USA) [16] def. Andy ZHU (CAN) 6-1 6-4

Noah SCHACHTER (USA) [6] def. Caleb STROTHER (USA) 6-1 6-0

Kaylan BIGUN(USA) def. Fabian HANSCH MAURITZSON (SWE) [12] 6-1 6-1

Stefan SIMEUNOVIC (CAN) [13] def. Rodrigo RAMOS CODES (ESP) 6-1 6-0

Hernando Jose ESCURRA ISNARDI (PAR) [15] def. James VAN DEINSE (USA) 6-1 6-1

Joao Victor Couto LOUREIRO (BRA) [5] def. Sebastian Mendoza (USA) 6-2 7-5

Joshua SHEEHY (USA) [7] def. Codrin MILLER (USA) 6-3 6-2

Jesse FLORES (CRC) [3] def. Rihirt SAUNDANKAR (USA) 6-0 6-0

Abraham ASABA (GHA) [14] def. Yuki IKEDA (JPN) 6-4 6-1

Kevin MAJOR (BAH) [10] def. Jake KRUG (USA) 6-3 6-3

Hillel ROUSSEAU (HAI) [11] def. Varun JAYARAM (USA) 6-3 6-1

MatthewSEGURA (USA) [8] def. Meecah BIGUN (USA) 6-3 6-4

Nikolay SYSOEV (RUS) [9] def. Luca- Julian HOTZE (USA) 7-6(6) 7-6(2)

Sebastian Mendoza
Sebastian Mendoza

Features, Vero Beach Champions Chase Perez-Blanco, Mardy Fish, Matthew Segura, Slim Hamza, Vero Beach

Perez-Blanco, Hamza Set For April 26 Tuesday Night Start At Mardy Fish Tennis After “King of the Hill” Success Awards Them “Wild Cards”

Randy Walker · March 12, 2022 · Leave a Comment

Chase Perez-Blanco of Quail Valley, the winner of Vero Beach’s “King of the Hill” competition, and Slim Hamza of The Moorings Club, the “King of the Hill” runner-up, have officially been awarded a main draw doubles wild card into the 2022 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships, the $15,000 ITF World Tennis Tour USTA Pro Circuit event to be played April 25 – May 1 at The Boulevard.

Perez-Blanco and Hamza will play their opening round doubles match against ATP-ranked professionals as the feature night match on Tuesday, April 26.

“We are so happy to award a main draw doubles wild card to the ‘King of the Hill’ winner and runner-up, which has become a nice local Vero Beach tradition,” said Tom Fish, co-tournament director of the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships. “Chase has been a key figure in the Vero Beach tennis scene the last few years and Slim had been an exciting new addition to our community. Both played high-level and entertaining tennis at ‘King of the Hill’ and we are looking forward to seeing them compete against ranked professionals starting on Tuesday night at our official pro tour event.”

In 2019, Perez-Blanco and “King of the Hill” runner-up Andrew Butz came within two points of winning a first-round doubles match against ATP ranked players, losing to Andrew Watson of Great Britain and Paul Oosterbaan of Michigan 6-2, 4-6 (10-8)

Hamza has competed against such players as Jamie Murray and Ernests Gulbis and reached the doubles final at a $15,000 event in Tunisia in 2014.

For information on Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation tickets, including reserved seating, sponsorship seating and general admission, go to www.MardyFishChildrensFoundation.org or email Lynn Southerly at LSouth1072@gmail.com Daily tickets will be available for $40 ($30 paid in advance online). Season tickets will be $200 and reserved and sponsorship seating and packages are also available.

The Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships is the USTA’s $15,000 ITF World Tennis Tour tournament played in Vero Beach since 1995 and is regarded as one of the best entry-level professional tennis tournaments in the world. Proceeds from the event benefit the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation, the non-profit tennis foundation benefiting children, named for Vero Beach native son Mardy Fish, the former top 10 tennis star and the current U.S. Davis Cup captain.

Some of the past competitors at the USTA Vero Beach Futures have gone on to succeed at the highest levels of professional tennis, winning major singles and doubles titles, Olympic medals and Davis Cup championships and earning No. 1 world rankings. Andy Roddick, the 2003 U.S. Open champion who attained the world No. 1 ranking and helped the United States win the Davis Cup in 2007, competed in Vero Beach in 1999. Thomas Johansson of Sweden, who reached the second round of the Vero Beach Futures in 1995, won the Australian Open seven years later in 2002. Nicolas Massu, the 1998 singles runner-up in Vero Beach, won the singles and doubles gold medals at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, beating Fish in the gold medal singles match. Kyle Edmund, the 2013 champion in Vero Beach, helped Great Britain to the Davis Cup title in 2015. Other notable former competitors in Vero Beach include former world No. 2 Magnus Norman, former world No. 4 Tim Henman, 2016 Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic and most recently world No. 50 player and teen sensation Denis Shapovalov, who played in Vero Beach in 2016. Former Vero Beach competitors have combined to win 19 titles in singles, doubles and mixed doubles at Grand Slam tournaments. Eight former Vero Beach players have gone on to play Davis Cup for the United States – Roddick, Fish, Taylor Dent, Jared Palmer, Donald Young, Ryan Harrison, Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul.

Chase Perez-Blanco and Slim Hamza

Features, Vero Beach Champions Chase Perez-Blanco, King of the Hill, Slim Hamza

Chase Perez-Blanco Wins 2022 “King of the Hill” Open Division

Randy Walker · March 7, 2022 · Leave a Comment

Chase Perez-Blanco of the Quail Valley Club won the “King of the Hill” open division title for a third time on Thursday, March 4 at The Boulevard making his claim as the top tennis player in Vero Beach.

The former University of Florida standout earned the most games in the final night of competition, beating out runner-up Slim Hamza of The Moorings Club, Robert Kowalczyk of The Boulevard and Joseph van Deinse of the Vero Beach Tennis Club.

The final night of the seven Thursdays of competitions attracted more than 500 spectators and closed out perhaps the best “King of the Hill” season ever.

“A lot of spectators came from The Moorings Club, supporting their local pro Slim Hamza, from Quail Valley for Chase Perez Blanco, from The Boulevard for Robert Kowalczyk and from Vero Beach Tennis Club supporting Joseph Van Deinse,” wrote Gigi Capascu, the King of the Hill organizer, in his wrap-up email on the event. “The players gave it all. Each round was very animated and the spectators were applauding  great moments of play and shot making. After two rounds Chase was in the lead. Joseph was Chase’s partner in the third round, and they played very well together. Chase made the necessary number of points to win the title by a point, followed by Slim, Robert and Joseph.”

The event benefits Youth Guidance in Vero Beach, Florida.

Features, Vero Beach Champions Chase Perez-Blanco, King of the Hill, Slim Hamza

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