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Mardy Fish Children's Foundation

Ryan Haviland

Matthew Segura Wins Fourth Title at Mardy Fish Sea Oaks “Wild Card” Event

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Matthew Segura, the great nephew of Hall of Famer Pancho Segura, is now four-for-four at Sea Oaks.

The 22-year-old from Apopka, Florida continued his winning ways at the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships “Wild Card” tournament at the Sea Oaks Beach & Tennis Club winning the title for the fourth time in four tries with a narrow 6-7(5), 7-5 (10-8) final-round win over Ryan Haviland of Greenville, S.C. Friday night in front of over 300 fans.

The win earns Segura a main draw “wild card” entry into the $15,000 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships ITF World Tennis Tour U.S. Tennis Association Pro Circuit event April 24-30 at the Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club at Timber Ridge.

Entering the final against Haviland, a 42-year-old former Stanford standout who also runs a tennis academy in Greenville, Segura had not even lost at Sea Oaks. However, Haviland ended that streak by winning the first set in a 7-5 tiebreaker. Haviland, who once had ATP rankings as high as No. 516 in singles and No. 307 in doubles before 11 surgeries sidetracked his career, quickly jumped to a 4-1 lead in the second set. Segura was able to fight back and win the second set 7-5. In the deciding 10-point match tiebreaker, Segura was able to take a 9-6 lead and held on to win 10-8.

Segura also won the event in 2018, 2019 and 2020. He did not play in the event in 2022 and the event was not held in 2021 due to the global pandemic.

Although Segura has an ATP ranking of No. 1,281, that can get him into the qualifying rounds at ITF World Tennis Tour events and some main draws, Segura entered the event at Sea Oaks as insurance and to look to guarantee that he will get a main draw start in Vero Beach.

To watch the post-match ceremony, including the presentation of the Paul Delaney Cup, click here https://youtu.be/8s4FePLNz3s

To watch Segura’s post-match comments, click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z86U62UFi0&t=11s

To see the full draw from the event, go to the Universal Tennis website here: https://app.universaltennis.com/events/136050?d=2d99070e-5779-4e94-af9c-39e365c1ce65&t=3

Matthew Segura

Three-Time Champ Matthew Segura Returns To Mardy Fish Sea Oaks Wild Card Event

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Matthew Segura, the great nephew of Hall of Famer Pancho Segura, leads the field of entries for the 2023 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Sea Oaks “Wild Card” Championships at the Sea Oaks Beach & Tennis Club Feb. 22-24.

Segura has competed and won this special event at Sea Oaks three previous times – in 2018, 2019 and 2020 – each time winning the event and earning a wild card entry into the $15,000 ITF World Tennis Tour USTA Pro Circuit event, the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships.

Segura is ranked No. 1,281 on the ATP Tour rankings this week, but still has trouble getting direct entries into the main draw of $15,000 events with that ranking. At the 2021 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships at The Boulevard, Segura upset former U.S. Davis Cupper and Olympic team member Donald Young en route to the quarterfinals of the event. In 2020, when the Mardy Fish tournament was a non-ATP or ITF sanctioned Universal Tennis (UTR) event, he reached the singles final falling to Diego Hidalgo of Ecuador.

The 2023 wild card event at Sea Oaks featured a record 29 entries. Azariah Rusher of Delray Beach, Florida and a commit to Florida State University’s tennis team, is the No. 2 seed. The No. 3 seed is former Stanford University standout Ryan Haviland, who won the modern-day Mardy Fish doubles event in 2003. At 42 years old, Haviland runs a tennis academy in Greenville, South Carolina but still dabbles in playing competitive tennis. Vero Beach high school standout Mason Cisco as well as Sea Oaks teaching pros Ching Wang and Christian Docter are also in the field.

Play starts Tuesday at 4 pm at Sea Oaks with play also starting on Wednesday at 11:30 and including the traditional Sea Oaks Wednesday feature match at 4:30. The quarterfinals will be held on Thursday at 1 pm. The semifinals will be held at 10 am on Friday and the final at 4 pm on Friday.

The winner will receive a main draw wild card into the Mardy Fish Futures and the runner-up will receive a qualifying round wild card. The main event will be held April 24-30 at the Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club at Timber Ridge.

The full draws and schedule can be round here:

https://app.universaltennis.com/events/136050?d=2d99070e-5779-4e94-af9c-39e365c1ce65&t=3

Matthew Segura, the great nephew of Hall of Fame tennis legend Pancho Segura, played Perry Gregg, at Sea Oaks Beach and Tennis Club in Vero Beach. They were among a group of 32 aspiring players from around the world in the singles field of this tournament that will award a main draw singles “wild card” (tournament entry) into the 2019 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships, the $25,000 ITF World Tennis Tour event.