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Mardy Fish Children's Foundation

Cooper Williams

Cooper Williams Winning Aussie Open Boys’ Doubles Title Gives 2023 Mardy Fish Competitors Three Junior Boys’ Doubles Majors

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American junior tennis players who played in the 2022 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships are getting this Grand Slam junior boys doubles title thing down.

Cooper Williams, the 17-year-old from New York who reached the second round of the 2022 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships, became the third straight player from the 2022 Vero Beach event to win a Grand Slam tournament junior doubles title when he and partner Learner Tien won the junior boys’ doubles title at the Australian Open. Williams and Tien defeated top seeds Alexander Blockx of Belgium and Joao Fonseca of Brazil 6-4, 6-4 in the final.

Williams joins his fellow Vero Beach tournament competitors from April of 2022, Nishesh Basavareddy of Carmel, Indiana and Alex Michelsen of Aliso Viejo, California, as junior doubles winners at Grand Slams since playing in Vero Beach.

Michelsen, who lost in the first round of singles in Vero Beach to eventual champion Sekou Bangoura, won the Wimbledon junior doubles title with Sebastian Gorzny. Michelsen paired with Williams in doubles in Vero Beach, losing in the first round.

Basavareddy won the junior boys doubles title at the U.S. Open with Ozan Baris, before heading off to play for Stanford University. Basavareddy lost in the first round of singles in Vero Beach in 2022, but, as a wild card entry, won the doubles title with Vero Beach fan favorite Ricardo Rodriguez.

The 2023 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships will be held April 24-30 at a new location, the Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club at Timber Ridge.

Junior boys doubles winners at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open (clockwise)

Sekou Bangoura Sweeps Last Six Games To Set Up Friday Night Match-Up With Montsi at Mardy Fish Tennis at The Boulevard

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Sekou Bangoura Sweeps Last Six Games To Set Up Friday Night Match-Up With Montsi at Mardy Fish Tennis at The Boulevard

Sekou Bangoura, a 30-year-old pro tennis veteran, rallied from 0-3 down in the third set to sweep the final six games of the match from 16-year-old Cooper Williams to advance into Friday night’s 6 pm feature quarterfinal match at the $15,000 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships at The Boulevard.

Bangoura’s 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-3 win over Williams advances him into the quarterfinals to face Kholo Montsi, the diminutive but powerful South African who defeated American Mwenwa Mbithi, who was forced to retire with a groin injury after losing the first set 6-2.

Bangoura’s brief post-match interview with Randy Walker on the cold and blustery night can be found here: https://youtu.be/FdVY9L9aPgA

John McNally, the older brother of WTA star Caty McNally, beat Texas A&M’s No. 1 player Noah Schachter 6-1, 6-3 in the noon opener on Stadium Thursday and will face former University of Georgia standout Emil Reinberg again at noon on Friday in the quarterfinals. Reinberg defeated 2015 NCAA singles champion Ryan Shane 6-3, 6-2 and also took the time to answer questions after the match with young students in Miss B’s Learning Bees, one of the programs that receives funding from the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation. Ethan Quinn, who is red-shirting this season this year at the University of Georgia, advanced into the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Luxembourg Davis Cupper Alex Knaff 6-3, 6-2. Quinn’s first day of college on the Athens, Georgia campus was the night the Bulldogs won the national football championship.

The University of Kentucky is also represented with two players in the quarterfinals as No. 1 seed Liam Draxl advanced with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 win over former Texas A&M standout A.J. Catanzariti and Millen Hurrion defeated Nathan Ponwith 7-5, 6-3. Draxl and Hurrion are also in the semifinals of the doubles competition.

Crowd favorites Quinn and Nick Godsick, the son of Mary Joe Fernandez and Tony Godsick, were defeated in the doubles quarterfinals to Nishesh Basavareddy of Carmel, Ind., and Venezuela’s Ricardo Rodriguez 6-3, 6-2. The win came on a special day for Rodriguez, his 29th birthday!

Read Harvey Fialkov’s TCPalm story on John McNally and Cooper Williams here: https://www.tcpalm.com/story/sports/2022/04/28/tennis-john-mcnally-making-most-decision-turn-pro/9575610002/

The Friday schedule of play can be found here: https://www.usta.com/content/dam/usta/2022-pro-circuit/20220425_vero_beach_m15/OP.pdf

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

Sekou Bangoura and Cooper Williams before their second match at the Mardy Fish Futures
Sekou Bangoura and Cooper Williams before their second match at the Mardy Fish Futures

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

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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

New Yorker Turned Floridian Cooper Williams, 16, Impresses At Mardy Fish Qualifying

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Cooper Williams, a sixteen-year-old from Tribeca in New York City, played the “match of the day” on the opening day of qualifying rounds at the $15,000 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships. The six-foot-two blonde-headed youngster, who trains in Delray Beach, Florida, upset the qualifying’s No. 1 seed Louroi Martinez 7-6(6), 3-6, [10-6] on Stadium Court, as the astute and knowledgable Vero Beach tennis crowd admired the fight and talent of teenager.

Williams was featured in the latest “Payers and Players” podcast, that you can listen to here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1BGTIxJxFOHodBbIvZ6GKM?si=kCYgwkFGQ-29H2Q9vroV4g

Williams will face Ron Hohman, the No. 1 player from LSU and one of the top players in college tennis, in Tuesday’s final round of qualifying at Noon also on Stadium Court.

Two local Vero Beach players, James van Deinse and Daniel Garza, both received last minute wild cards into the qualifying tournament and both fought admirably against stiff competition Monday before losing. Van Deinse, a former Liberty University standout and tennis pro and owner of the Vero Beach Tennis Club, played a compelling second set losing to Andy Andrade, the No. 3 player from the University of Florida’s 2021 NCAA Championship team, 6-0, 6-4. Garza, who won this singles title at this event ten years ago in 2011, flung a fair share of winners before losing to Bolivian Davis Cup Murkel Dellian 6-1, 6-3.

In the 6 pm evening match Monday, Juan Benitez of Colombia, the 2018 champion at the Mardy Fish Futures, defeated Davide Innocenti 6-1, 6-2.

Tuesday’s schedule is highlighted by the Vero Beach locals, Garza and Joseph van Deinse, taking on world No. 300 ATP doubles player Junior Ore and top U.S. junior Ben Kittay in the 6 pm featured night match.

Full results from Monday can be found here:

Andres ANDRADE (ECU) [9] d. James VAN DEINSE (USA) 6-0 6-4

Ronald HOHMANN(USA) [13] d. Matej PANIK (CZE) 6-4 6-1

Marco DE ROSSI (SMR) [4] d. Parth AGGARWAL (IND) 3-6 6-1 [10-2]

JanMagnus JOHNSON(USA) [14] d. Kyle OVERMYER (USA) 6-1 6-0

Yang LIU (CHN) d. Suraj R PRABODH (IND) [5] 6-7(5) 6-2 [10-5]

Matthew DELLAVEDOVA (AUS) [2] d. Shane MONROE (USA) 6-3 6-4

Diogo MARQUES (POR) d. Adam JONES (GBR) [6] 3-6 6-3 [10-1]

Cooper WILLIAMS (USA) d. Louroi MARTINEZ (SUI) [1] 7-6(6) 3-6 [10-6]

Tommaso CARNEVALE-MIINO (ITA) [15] d. Jacob SUTTON (USA) 6-0 6-2

Nikolay SYSOEV (RUS) d. Jordan PARKER (USA) [12] 6-2 6-7(6) [10-7]

Hugo CAZABAN(FRA) d. Nicholas REYES (USA) [7] 4-6 6-3 [10-5]

Reece FALCK (NZL) d. [8] Kuan Yu CHEN (TPE) 7-6(8) 5-2 Ret.

Murkel DELLIEN(BOL) [3] d. Daniel GARZA (MEX) 6-1 6-3

Credit CHAIYARIN(THA) [16] d. Martin MALDONADO (ECU) 6-0 6-3

Juan Manuel BENITEZ (COL) d. Davide INNOCENTI (ITA) [10] 6-1 6-2

Christian LAKOSELJAC (CAN) [11] d. Matthew FOSTER-ESTWICK (BAR) 6-4 7-6(2)

Cooper Williams (left) at Mardy Fish tennis
Cooper Williams (left) at Mardy Fish tennis