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Ben Shelton

From Vero Beach To The U.S. Open – Ben Shelton, Ethan Quinn and Nico Godsick Shine In New York

Randy Walker · September 12, 2022 · Leave a Comment

Ben Shelton, Ethan Quinn and Nico Godsick, who all competed in Vero Beach at the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships within the last year, also shined in the U.S. Open spotlight. Shelton, who was the doubles runner-up and singles quarterfinalist at the special October of 2021 edition of the tournament, competed in the main draw in singles and doubles at the 2022 U.S. Open, where he officially announced that he was turning pro after winning the 2022 NCAA singles title for the University of Florida. Shelton lost a tough five-set match in the first round to Nuno Borges of Portugal. He and partner Chris Eubanks beat 2021 French Open runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas and his brother Petros in the first round of doubles before losing in the second round.

Quinn, who was the 2022 singles runner-up in Vero Beach in April, paired in the main draw of doubles with his Vero Beach doubles partner Nico Godsick, the son of former Olympic doubles gold medal winner and ESPN commentator Mary Joe Fernandez and Roger Federer and Coco Gauff’s agent Tony Godsick. Quinn and Godsick beat former world No. 16 Nikoloz Basilashvili and  Hans Hach Verdugo in the first round before losing to 2021 Wimbledon and Olympic champions Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic in the second round. Junior Wimbledon doubles champion Alex Michelsen and our 2020 singles champion Diego Hidalgo were also among the recent Vero Beach competitors who competed in the main draw of doubles at the 2022 U.S. Open.

Ethan Quinn and Nico Godsick after losing to 2021 Wimbledon and Olympic champions Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektik

Features Ben Shelton, Ethan Quinn, Nico Godsick, US Open

Recent Mardy Fish Tennis Competitors Ben Shelton, Ethan Quinn and Nico Godsick To Play 2022 U.S. Open Main Draw

Randy Walker · August 16, 2022 · Leave a Comment

From Stadium Court at The Boulevard in Vero Beach to the main draw of the 2022 U.S. Open at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York.

That’s the scenario for three recent competitors at the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships, the $15,000 ITF World Tennis Tour USTA Pro Circuit tennis tournament.

Ben Shelton, Ethan Quinn and Nico Godsick, who thrilled fans in Vero Beach within the last year at the Fall and Spring events at The Boulevard, will all be competing in the main draw of the 2022 U.S. Open.

Shelton will be competing in the main draw of singles, by virtue of his NCAA singles title win in May for the University of Florida, and Quinn and Godsick will be competing in the main draw in doubles, by virtue of their win in doubles at the USTA National Boy’s 18 Championships in Kalamazoo, Michigan last week. Quinn will also be competing in the qualifying rounds for the U.S. Open in singles, by virtue of reaching the singles final in Kalamazoo.

Shelton competed in Vero Beach at the special October edition of the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships in 2021 where he reached the quarterfinals in singles and finished as the doubles runner-up. Since he played in Vero Beach, he not only won the NCAA singles title, but moved his ATP singles ranking to No. 229.

Quinn, who was a redshirt freshman at the University of Georgia, was the singles runner-up in Vero Beach in April, falling to Sekou Bangoura 6-4, 6-3. He continued to excel on the ITF World Tennis Tour over the summer, moving his ATP singles ranking to No. 501, making him the No. 4 ranking American teenager in the ATP rankings.

Godsick drew the No. 1 seed in the first round of singles and doubles in Vero Beach last April, but he and Quinn reached the quarterfinals in the doubles competition. He is the son of former two-time Olympic gold medalist Mary Joe Fernandez and tennis agent Tony Godsick.

The 2023 edition of the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships is tentatively set for April 24-30, 2023. For sponsorship and box seat and cabana ticket information, contact Lynn Southerly at Lsouth1072@gmail.com or 202-438-5225

Ben Shelton and Nico Godsick and Ethan Quinn

Features Ben Shelton, Ethan Quinn, Nico Godsick, US Open

Canada’s Liam Draxl Reaches Singles Semis, Doubles Final At Mardy Fish Futures

Randy Walker · October 23, 2021 · Leave a Comment

Liam Draxl of Canada advanced into the singles semifinals and doubles final at the $15,000 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships Saturday, beating Ben Shelton in the singles quarterfinals, then pairing with Shelton in the doubles semifinals.

Draxl, a junior at the University of Kentucky, started the day with a thrilling 6-1, 6-7 (3), 6-4 singles win over Shelton, a University of Florida sophomore. The two then beat Junior Ore and Ben Kittay 3-6 6-4 [10-5] to reach the doubles final.

In Saturday’s noon semifinal, the 19-year-old Draxl, who’s No. 477 in the ATP rankings, will face China’s Jerry Shang, the current No. 1. junior in the ITF world rankings. Shang, who’s only 16 and is hoping to notch his third ITF Futures title this season, outlasted eighth-seeded Duarte Vale of Portugal and also from the University of Florida 6-3, 7-6 (2). Shang also took out Vale in last week’s final of the ITF $15,000 Futures in Naples, almost with the same score, 6-3, 7-6 (4).

Vale was on last season’s Gators NCAA championship team with Shelton, so it was a rough day all around for the Gators. Shang, who has been training at IMG Academy in Bradenton since 2019 under the tutelage of former touring pros Jimmy Arias and Martin Damm, said it helped to be familiar with Vale’s game.

“It was like the same as last week,’’ Shang said. “He’s a fighter and isn’t going to give you anything. I reset in the tiebreak and got the match done. I’ve known [Draxl] since I was 14, watching him play in juniors when I was little. It’s going to be fun.”

In other quarterfinal action, Venezuelan Davis Cup legend Ricardo Rodriguez, the No. 3 seed, defeated 26-year-old Juan Benitez of Colombia, a winner here in 2018 who received a wild card into the qualifying event here, 6-2, 6-2.

After snapping a nine-match losing streak earlier this week, the top-seeded, wild-card entrant Donald Young, who reached 38th in the world in 2012 before injuries and the pandemic derailed his career, the 32 year old’s comeback sustained another speed-bump in a 6-3, 4-0 loss to wild-card entrant Matthew Segura late Thursday.

Young, who has dropped to 451 and relegated to playing in the minor leagues of pro tennis, sustained an injury to his left leg and was forced to retire from his second-round match. After two first-round ousters at this tournament, Segura, 21, the great nephew of late tennis Hall of Famer Pancho Segura, has reached the quarterfinals for the first time but fell to baseline basher Ezekiel Clark, the seventh seed from Tulsa, Okla. 7-5, 6-4.

Clark, 23 and ranked 779, achieved his best result in an ITF $15,000 Futures in Norman, Okla., in 2019 when he made it to the final. Clark, who’s only 5-9 and recently played for the University of Illinois, is a huge fan of former Spaniard great David Ferrer. Despite his smallish 5-9 stature, Ferrer’s tenacious baseline grinding enabled him to No. 3 in the world in 2013 and he won 27 singles titles while earning more than $31 million.

Segura knew that Young had several big-time notches on his racket, posting victories over Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Tommy Haas, Kevin Anderson as well as wins in Challengers events against Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev when the current second- and fourth-ranked players respectively were teenagers just breaking into pro tennis.

“In all due respect I just went out there and trusted my ability and my game,’’ said Segura, 21, who grew up in Southern California but lives in nearby Orlando. “I think it’s a great achievement especially against someone who was in the Top 40. He’s beaten a lot of good players. Every year has been a learning opportunity for me. The last two times I lost in the first round, but I learned lessons from it and how to [compete]. I decided the third time I wanted to go for it.’’

The ambidextrous Segura can hit serves with either hand and features two-fisted ground strokes like his great Uncle Pancho did. Pancho was only 5-foot-6 but managed to win 66 titles and unofficially reached No. 1 in 1950. Although the diminutive Ecuadorian died at 96 in 2017, he imparted his vast knowledge of tennis to Matthew, who stands 6-1.

“Every time I would hit a winning shot or get a good win, he would say, ‘Thata boy!’, so I feel him saying that to me,” Segura said. “I think he’s still coaching my heart.’’

Segura earned his first ATP point after his first-round win on Wednesday and now has a chance to add a few more. He has won three ‘Wild Card’ events for this tournament from 2018-20 at Sea Oaks Tennis Club, but this is by far his best ITF Pro Circuit tournament.

Draxl hopes to join a contingent of exciting Canadian stars on both tours, including No. 12-ranked Felix Auger-Aliassime, No. 15t-ranked Denis Shapovalov (who reached the semis here in Vero Beach in 2016), , t

Milos Raonic (once ranked as high as No. 3), Vasek Pospisil (career-high 25 in 2014); and on the WTA Tour, Bianca Andreescu (U.S Open champion in 2019), Leylah Fernandez (recent U.S. Open finalist), Genie Bouchard (Wimbledon finalist in 2016) and even U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu was born in Toronto before settling in Great Britain.

“When you see the next gen, young players like Felix and Denis coming up and doing so well on the Tour it makes me feel like I can do it. I’m inspired by them and am trying to follow in their footsteps,” Draxl said.

The hard-serving left-handed Shelton got off to a slow start, possibly feeling the effects of his tough three-set victory over former Gators’ teammate Blaise Bicknell on Thursday, but stormed back to gut out a second-set tiebreaker. The turning point of the match came with Shelton serving at 2-2, 15-40 in the third set when Draxl smacked a highly angled crosscourt forehand passing shot past the net-charging Shelton for a critical break.

However, with Draxl serving for the match at 5-3, Shelton, 19, saved a match point as Draxl’s forehand just missed the clay baseline. Shelton broke back and held for 4-5.

A fired-up Draxl, normally a baseliner, won two points by serving and volleying to go up 40-15 for match point No. 2. An error by Draxl gave Shelton an opening. but the University of Kentucky Wildcat sealed the 2-hour, 47-minute battle when Shelton’s backhand flew over the baseline.

“A great match to my doubles partner this week,’’ said Draxl, who was seeded No. 1 in last year’s NCAA singles tournament. “I knew it was going to be a battle today. I was pumped to squeak it out at the end.  “When you beat a player like that 6-1, you know it’s not going to be 6-1 in the second set. I knew he was going to fight back and grind. I knew I had to elevate my game, be more aggressive. I returned a couple of his bombs and without that I don’t break him.”

“I love college tennis so much; I love the energy, love the atmosphere, love getting pumped up and the team aspect to it,’’ added Draxl, who was named the school’s first ITA National Player of the Year, going 25-3 in singles. “I’m excited to get back in January and do it over again.”

Draxl is riding a wave of confidence after eaching the semifinals of another ITF $15,000 tournament in Naples last week. Draxl also held his own in an ATP qualifying match in the Canada Masters 1000 event last August, barely falling to the No. 56-ranked Tommy Paul, 7-6 (0), 6-4. He also lost a close one to former Top 40 player Ryan Harrison 7-6 in the third at a Challenger event in Cary in July.

Liam Draxl
Liam Draxl

Features Ben Shelton, Liam Draxl, Mardy Fish

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