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Nico Godsick and Vero Beach Locals Van Deinse/Rios and Bragg/Wang Highlight Mardy Fish Friday Schedule

Randy Walker · April 28, 2023 · Leave a Comment

Nico Godsick endured to win perhaps the hallmark singles victory in a pro tennis tournament in his career with his 6-7, 7-6, 6-1 victory of No. 5 seed Peter Bertran of the Dominican Republic in a rain-delayed Thursday first round match at the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships.

Godsick, the son of tennis legend Mary Joe Fernandez and tennis agent Tony Godsick, trailed 7-6, 5-2 and saved a match point before prevailing a match that lasted about three and half hours of match play.

Read of Godsick’s victory by tennis writer Harvey Fialkov in TCPalm.com here: https://www.tcpalm.com/story/sports/tennis/2023/04/27/storms-interrupt-play-at-mardy-fish-tournament-at-timber-ridge/70160447007/

Watch Godsick speak with Randy Walker following his win here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joBzmuRK44I

Godsick’s first round doubles match (which has still yet to be played) was rained out on Tuesday afternoon, just after he and partner Aidan Kim won the opening coin toss and his originally scheduled match with Bertran was rained out 45 minutes before start time on Wednesday night. Considering that, it was perhaps no surprise that his second scheduled match on Thursday, a second round match against fellow American Chad Kissell, was postponed due to rain and scheduled for 9 am on Friday.

Friday’s schedule will also feature “King of the Hill” winner James Van Deinse and KOTH runner-up Tyler Rios playing their first round match against Bertran and Lorenzo Claverie of Italy at 4 pm on Court 7.

James Bragg and Ching Wang will play their first round match against Roberto Cid and Sathi Reddy of India. Cid Subervi has to play potentially two singles matches before this doubles match can be given an exact time and court, but mid to late afternoon is likely (weather permitting) but stay tuned to the “@VeroFutures” twitter page and the ITF World Tennis Tour app for updates!

Friday’s full schedule can be found here: https://www.itftennis.com/en/tournament/m15-vero-beach-fl/usa/2023/m-itf-usa-12a-2023/order-of-play/

Nico Godsick (photo by John Pearse)

Features Mardy Fish, USTA, Vero Beach

Mardy Fish Tennis Show Goes On At 9 AM Thursday After Severe Thunderstorm Rolls Through Tournament Site

Randy Walker · April 27, 2023 · Leave a Comment

Play at the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships was affected by rain for a third straight day Wednesday, with a severe late afternoon thunderstorm causing some damage of the event set-up at the Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club at Timber Ridge. WATCH here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JnHxrJ46qw

But the show goes on with second-straight 9:00 am start on Thursday with the conclusion of the first round of main draw singles and the second round of singles. Representatives of the Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club said the courts will be ready for play in the morning after the heavy rain that caused the Stadium Court to be flooded with standing water about a six inches deep.

For a second straight day, Nico Godsick of Delray Beach, Florida, was minutes from playing a match in Vero Beach, before being pushed to the next day due to rain. After his Tuesday afternoon first round doubles match was cancelled due to a sudden rain storm just as he and partner Aidan Kim won the coin toss for the match, Godsick was 45 minutes away from playing his first round match against Peter Bertran of the Dominican Republic on Wednesday when the severe storm struck Vero Beach. Godsick will play his match at 9 am on Thursday.

The full schedule for Thursday can be found here https://www.usta.com/content/dam/usta/2023-pro-circuit/20230424_verobeach_m15/OP.pdf

Of local interest, Sea Oaks teaching pro Ching Wang was defeated in his final round qualifying match on Wednesday, falling to Benedikt Henning of Germany 6-1, 6-1. Wang and James Bragg, the winners of the Mardy Fish “Wild Card” doubles tournament, as well as the team of “King of the Hill” winner and runner-up James Van Deinse and Tyler Rios will play on Friday at a time to be determined.

Read Harvey Fialkov’s story from Wednesday at the Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club on TCPalm.com here https://www.tcpalm.com/story/sports/high-school/tennis/2023/04/26/mardy-fish-tennis-veteran-young-dreamer-among-first-round-winners/70156378007/ via @tcpalm

Vero Beach fan favorite Ricardo Rodriguez, the all-time leading Davis Cup player from Venezuela and a two-time singles finalist in Vero Beach, needed 3 hours and 23 minutes to beat Liam Krall of Bronxville, N.Y., a member of Southern Methodist University’s tennis team. Watch Ricardo’s post-match interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6I7OVDryl0

Features ITNF, Mardy Fish, Tennis, USTA

Blockbuster Wednesday Mardy Fish Schedule Starts at 9:00 AM!

Randy Walker · April 26, 2023 · Leave a Comment

All 16 main draw singles matches as well as five qualifying singles finals make up for a blockbuster Wednesday schedule at the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships at the Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club.

Play was again affected by rain Tuesday and caused for play to be eventually cancelled for the day in the mid-afternoon. The final five qualifying finals will be completed at 9:00 am Wednesday, highlighted by Sea Oaks tennis pro Ching Wang playing Benedikt Henning of Germany at the John’s Island Real Estate Bowl. Watch Wang’s post-match interview after his first-round win with Randy Walker here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R71OEMXqEzw

Play on the Stadium Court will begin at 10 am with two-time Mardy Fish finalist and all-time leading Venezuelan Davis Cupper Ricardo Rodriguez takes on Liam Krall of Bronxville, N.Y., who just led SMU to the American Conference title in Orlando on Sunday and who competed in the main draw of the ATP Tour’s Dallas Open earlier this year. The second Stadium Court match will feature No. 3 seed and former Florida Gator Duarte Vale of Portugal, the 2021 Mardy Fish doubles champion who two weeks ago played in the ATP Tour’s Estoril Open with Ben Shelton, will face Matthew Segura of Apopka, Florida, the four-time Mardy Fish “Wild Card” champion and the great nephew of Hall of Famer Pancho Segura.

Top seed and Romanian Davis Cupper Adrian Boitan will play third on Stadium Court against 15-year-old upstart American Kaylan Bigun of West Hollywood, Calif.

The final Stadium Court match will feature No. 5 seed Peter Bertran, a Davis Cup player from the Dominican Republic, facing 18-year-old Nico Godsick, the reigning USTA National Boys’ 18 champion and son of tennis legend Mary Joe Fernandez and famed tennis agent Tony Godsick.

Other matches of interest Wednesday include No. 2 seed and former Florida Gator Andres Andrade of Ecuador taking on 42-year-old former Stanford standout Ryan Haviland in the third match on the John’s Island Bowl, following the match there featuring 18-year-old Florida Gator commit Aidan Kim against former University of Miami standout Dan Martin.

Roy Horovitz, a 15-year-old main draw wild card, will play a qualifier on a court and time to be assigned.

Doubles will not be played until Thursday.

The full schedule for Wednesday can be found here: https://www.usta.com/content/dam/usta/2023-pro-circuit/20230424_verobeach_m15/OP.pdf

Read the coverage of Tuesday’s action here: https://tennisverobeach.com/index.php/2023/04/26/rain-makes-tuesday-a-good-day-for-fish-at-mardy-fish-tennis/

Features ITF, Mardy Fish, USTA, Vero Beach

Rain Makes Tuesday A Good Day For Fish At Mardy Fish Tennis

Randy Walker · April 26, 2023 · Leave a Comment

By Harvey Fialkov

VERO BEACH – An afternoon downpour on Tuesday turned the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships into an indoor game fest as the players battled it out indoors on the chess board and poker table.

The rain held off long enough for Chilean Miguel Angel Cabrera, who possesses the exact moniker as the legendary Detroit Tigers superstar, to eke out a three-hour 5-7, 6-4, (10-7) victory over Timothy Phung of Bradenton, Fla., at the Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club at Timber Ridge to earn a berth into the 32-player main draw of the ITF/USTA $15,000 Pro Circuit Futures event.

“Every time I say my name people get confused and say, ‘Oh, the baseball player,’ ‘’ smiled Cabrera, a 22-year-old who played four years at The University of Texas at Arlington before turning pro last year. Even my second name is the same as his.”

Unfortunately, Cabrera doesn’t receive the cherubic superstar’s mail or paychecks, but he hopes to add to his one ATP ranking point earned after a first-round win in a Dominican Republic $15,000 Futures tournament last November.

Cabrera was down 5-6 in the 10-point decisive Super Tiebreaker when an argument ensued over a ball struck by Phung. Cabrera was sure the ball was out, but the on-site umpire didn’t agree on the mark. Cabrera debated the call for so long that USTA tournament supervisor David Littlefield was called to the court to assist. Eventually, the call went Phung’s way, and he led 7-5 in the breaker.

However, a fired-up Cabrera won the next four points to set up match point. A 30-stroke rally ensued as a torrential downpour fell. Somehow, Cabrera returned Phung’s rain-soaked drop shot with one of his own to end the marathon.

“Maybe the long discussion changed the rhythm of the match, but I didn’t intend to do it,’’ said Cabrera, who lives in Miami where he trains with Juan Carlos Saez, once ranked No. 230 on the ATP Tour. “But if I won that point it would’ve been 6-all. I’ve been playing very good in the Super Tiebreakers over the last couple of weeks, so I came with more intensity. You’re playing to get into the main draw, so the pressure is great.”

Cabrera, who grew up cheering for Chilean countryman Fernando Gonzalez, once ranked No. 5, hopes to break through in Vero Beach.

“My big dream to get better results, especially I feel better on the clay, and get to the Top 100 and make a living playing tennis,’’ he said.

If he does make it, perhaps he can call his namesake for financial advice. After all, the future Hall of Fame Venezuelan has made more than $400 million over his sterling 21-year career.

Before rain delayed the afternoon matches for more than two hours, local Vero Beach teaching pro Ching Wang continued his unlikely journey into possibly the main draw of the singles and doubles events.

Wang, 25, who spends most days feeding balls to members of the Sea Oaks Beach & Tennis Club, entered the respective singles and doubles wild card events on a lark.

But after outlasting Matthew Vos, 7-5 in a one-hour, 39-minute first set, the former Division II Lees-McRae College (NC) standout wore out the Texas native 6-0 in the second, his final-round qualifying match against Benedikt Henning of Germany was rained out, to resume Wednesday morning at 9 am. Wang was also scheduled to play his doubles match Tuesday evening with 53-year-old Vero Beach resident James Bragg, after the unlikely duo won last week’s doubles wild-card event at Timber Ridge where they received a bye and a walkover into the finals. However, all first-round doubles matches were cancelled as another rainstorm hit at 3:25 p.m.

Wang entered the week as the second alternate for a qualifying round wild card after he reached the semifinals of the Mardy Fish Wild Card event at his club Sea Oaks in February. The winner of that tournament was Matthew Segura of Apopka, Fla., who has won it four times, but he ended up not needing the wild card for entry due to his improved ATP ranking. When Azariah Rusher of Delray Beach, first alternate from the event for a  qualifying wild card, pulled out, the spot opened up for Wang.

“The wild cards, you just never know, you just have to be there,’’ Wang, a China native, said of his good fortune. “After long hours of coaching you don’t feel two hours out there are too much. I want to thank the Sea Oaks members for their support and pushing me to keep fighting.

“After trailing 1-4, I was able to grind out the first set and I felt like he didn’t have the stamina in the second set, so I kept adding pressure and was able to get the win in this beautiful tournament.”

In a second-round qualifying match, teenager Stiles Brockett of College Park, Md., fell to Alexander del Corral of Doral, 7-6 (4), 0-6 (10-4). Also joining Cabrera and del Corral into the main draw is Peruvian Jorge Cavero.

The all-teenage doubles match featuring Nico Godsick and Aidan Kim, heading to Stanford and Florida respectively, against 16-year-olds Americans Kaylan Bigun and Roy Horovitz, was rained out. However, Godsick, with mother/coach Mary Joe Fernandez, former No. 4 in the world and renowned ESPN tennis analyst, close by, was the big winner in Texas Hold ‘em.

Ching Wang at Mardy Fish Tennis (Photo by John Pearse)

Features ITF, Mardy Fish, USTA, Vero Beach

Local Tennis Standouts To Test Their Mettle Against ATP-Ranked Pros Tuesday At Mardy Fish Tennis

Randy Walker · April 25, 2023 · Leave a Comment

All but three first round qualifying matches were completed after a rainy Monday at the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships at the Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club. Only the 5 pm night match between Sea Oaks tennis pro Ching Wang and Matthew Vos did not take the court as heavy rain and lightning canceled play for the day.

Ching will play his first round qualifying match at 10 am on Tuesday and, if he wins, again later in the day after rest. He is also scheduled to play his first round of doubles at 5:30 pm alongside his 53-year-old partner James Bragg, with he won the Mardy Fish doubles “wild card” event last week. Wang and Bragg will play Roberto Cid, a Davis Cup player from the Dominican Republic ranked No. 677 in singles by the ATP, and Sathi Reddy of India, who has an ATP doubles ranking of No. 1639.

Not before 3:30 pm on Stadium will feature the “King of the Hill” winner James Van Deinse, a co-owner of the Vero Beach Tennis Club, partnering with KOTH runner-up Tyler Rios of Port St. Lucie, playing against the No. 2 seeds in doubles Peter Bertran, also a Davis Cup player from the Dominican Republic who is ranked No. 625 in doubles, and Lorenzo Claverie of Italy, ranked No 705 in the world in doubles.

Tuesday’s first main draw doubles match on Stadium will feature four teenagers, No. 3 seeds Nico Godsick and Aidan Kim, both 18 who will attend Stanford and Florida respectively later this year, against 16-year-old Kaylun Bigun and 15-year-old Roy Horowitz. Godsick, the son of two-time Olympic gold medalist Mary Joe Fernandez and Laver Cup co-founder and agent for Roger Federer Tony Godsick, won the USTA National Boys’ 18 championships last year and reached the second round of the main draw in doubles at the 2022 U.S. Open.

Sebastian Mendoza, the No. 1 player from Vero Beach High School’s 2022 team, was defeated in his first-round qualifying match, falling to Isaac Nortey, a member of the Davis Cup team from Ghana, by a 6-3, 6-1 margin. The end of the match can be watched here: https://youtu.be/qI-baeZ4Xgs

Read Harvey Fialkov’s TCPalm.com story on Monday’s play here: https://www.tcpalm.com/story/sports/2023/04/24/mardy-fish-these-hopeful-tennis-stars-are-fighting-for-first-atp-points/70147971007/?fbclid=IwAR3GAgkPBnWytt0ayZAec0NonFibt2uSGn2CBO19kVrsyQivft_jXOub1Ac

Tuesday’s full schedule can be found here: https://www.usta.com/content/dam/usta/2023-pro-circuit/20230424_verobeach_m15/OP.pdf

The full singles draw can be found here: https://www.usta.com/content/dam/usta/2023-pro-circuit/20230424_verobeach_m15/MDS.pdf

The full doubles draw can be found here: https://www.usta.com/content/dam/usta/2023-pro-circuit/20230424_verobeach_m15/MDD.pdf

Sebastian Mendoza (photo by John Pearse)

Features Ching Wang, Mardy Fish, USTA, Vero Beach

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