SoCal Futures Recap

The first of the 3 Futures in Southern California took place in Claremont, California at The Claremont Club. The conditions are usually on the faster side as the courts are medium-fast and there is a little bit of altitude. This was a $15,000 Futures and I was accepted into the main draw of both singles and doubles. I was partnering up with Miles Seeman, who played at UC Santa Barbara, for this tournament.

Miles and I were the #1 seeds in the doubles draw and played our first round of doubles on a Tuesday afternoon. We played Saleh/Smith who are two highly ranked junior players in the first round. They both had good serves and could hit the ball big. We had 2 break points in their 1^st service game but they saved both. Both teams ended up holding their first two service games which made it 2-all. We held and then played a solid return game to break on the No-Ad point to go up a break. We were serving well and putting a high percentage of 1^st serves in. We held for 5-2. We broke them again to take the 1^st set 6-2. We jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the 2^nd set after returning well. We continued to play solid doubles and closed out a comprehensive 6-2, 6-2 win in the 1^st round.

The next day I played my first round of singles against Brandon Holt, who is a junior and plays #1 for USC. He is a smart player who moves very well and redirects the ball and takes time away. He also has a good serve and solid volleys. I held my serve in the 1^st game with a few good serves. I then had 1 break point on his serve but unfortunately didn’t convert. I held in the next game to take a 2-1 lead. I had two more break points on his serve but he saved them both with solid shots. At 2-all I was up 40-15 on my serve but then made a few unforced errors along with two double faults to get broken. He started to play well at this point and held at love in the next game for 4-2. I then got broken again in a game where I didn’t make many 1^st serves in. He held to close out the first set 6-2. I didn’t get a good start to the second set and got broken in my first service game. My opponent then held to go up 2-0. I held in my next service game. At 1-2, I again had 2 break points to get it back on serve but my opponent played well. He ended up holding and then breaking me again in the next game. I ended up losing the match 2-6, 1-6, although the score was not indicative of how close the match was. I didn’t win the big points as I was 0/5 on break points and I had multiple game points. Holt would go on to win the singles title and only dropped one set along the way.

In the doubles quarterfinal, we faced off against Redlicki/Goldhoff. This was a tough unseeded team as Redlicki, who graduated after playing #1 for UCLA, played in the US Open Doubles main draw last month. Redlicki is a lefty with a very high level serve and good volleys. Goldhoff is a solid player who returns well and makes a lot of shots. We broke them in the 1^st game of the match on a No-Ad deuce point. From then on, both teams were holding serve pretty routinely. We held to go up 4-2. We had one more break point on their serve but they hit a big serve to save it. At 5-4, I served out the 1^st set at 40-15 to take a strong opening set 6-4. At 0-1 in the second set my partner saved two break points to get a big hold. In the next game my partner and I returned well to go up 0-40 on their serve. Unfortunately Redlicki came up with 4 big serves to get a hold. I then got broken on a No-Ad point in the next game as there was a big momentum swing. Our opponents held to go up 4-1. We then got broken again in the next game as they started to return well. We lost the second set 6-1 and a 10-point tiebreak would decide the match. We served first and got the 1-0 lead. Then they followed by hitting two good serves to go up 2-1. At 2-2, Redlicki hit a backhand crosscourt return winner to give them the mini-break. They subsequently won both points to go up 5-2. We then won both of our service points to cut it to 4-5. Our opponents came up with quality 1^st serves in the tiebreak and took a 7-4 lead. We again cut it to 6-7. They held both service points to go up 9-6. We then saved 1 match point before they took it 10-7. This was a tough match to lose 6-4, 1-6, 7-10, but overall it was high-quality tennis. For making the Quarterfinals of doubles and the 1^st round of singles, I earned $252 for the week.

The next tournament was in Laguna Niguel and held at the Laguna Niguel Racquet Club. This was another $15,000 Futures. I again was in the main draw of both singles and doubles. I teamed up with Miles Seeman again in doubles and this week we were the #4 seeds.  In the first round of doubles we faced off against Saleh/Wild. We just played Saleh in the 1^st round last week but this time he was with a different partner. They both served and returned pretty well. Both teams started off serving strong. The first four games were all holds and the score was even at 2-2. We had one break point in the next game but they saved it. We finally got the first break at 3-all to go up 4-3 after some solid returns. We held for 5-3 and then closed out the first set 6-4. My partner and I continued to return well and broke in the 1^st game. At 1-0, we held to go up 2-0. We then broke again to take a commanding 3-0 lead. We were holding comfortably and hitting quality serves to go up 4-0.  We closed out the match 6-4, 6-0 and returned well in the second set.

I played singles the next day against Henry Craig, the #2 seed in the tournament. He is currently ranked #600 and is an aggressive baseliner. He rips the ball from the baseline and also serves well. I started out the match serving and got an early hold and then he responded with a hold. We each got two fairly straightforward holds to start the match and it was even at 2-all. He then played a great return game with three high level returns to break me. He then held for 4-2 and broke me again. At 2-5, I got one of the breaks back by playing a solid game. However, he broke me again to take the 1^st set 6-3. I needed to do a better job of hitting quality serves and placing them better. My opponent held to start the 2^nd set. I got a good hold with some strong serving to make it 1-all. I played a good game to break him my playing more aggressive and hitting quality 2^nd serve returns. I saved two break points in the next game and held for 3-1. I broke him again in the next game at 15-40 by playing aggressive and not letting him get the upper hand in the points. I continued to serve well and got another hold for 5-1. I played another solid game to break him and take the second set 6-1. We both held to start the 3^rd set. At 1-1, I played a loose game on my serve to get broken after not making many 1^st serves. He raised his level and held for 3-1. I held my next service game to make it 2-3. Then I had one break point on his serve but he saved it with a good serve. He ended up holding for 4-2. My opponent then played a great game to break me again for 5-2. I stayed in it and got one break back to cut it to 3-5. I followed it up with a hold to make it 4-5. But he served out the match in the next game at 40-30 to take a hard-fought match 6-3, 1-6, 6-4. I thought the tennis was a good level, but a little bit up and down. I needed to serve more consistent and it hurt me to get broken early in the 3^rd set.

In the quarterfinals of doubles, my partner and I played against the team of Kaster/Sonkin. They were a solid team with good groundstrokes and they also made a lot of shots. Both teams started off with two quick holds to make it 2-all. We then broke them on the No-Ad point to get the break. We held for 4-2 with some good serving. My partner and I then continued to return well and we made a lot of shots to get another break. We served out the first set 6-2, with good tennis. We were not being threatened on serve. We continued our momentum in the second set by jumping out to an early break to go up 2-1. I thought my partner and I were returning pretty well especially off 1^st serves. We held for 3-1. Then we broke on the No-Ad point to go up a double break 4-1. Our opponents keep fighting and actually raised their level at this point. I got broken on a No-Ad point on my serve which cut our lead to 4-2. They then held to make it 4-3. Then we had to save one break point in the next game to get a tough hold. We held for 5-3 and then they responded to make it 5-4. We then served out the match in the next game at 40-15 to take a solid 6-2, 6-4 win. I think we lost a little focus in the 2^nd set and made it closer than it needed to be. But it was great to advance to the semifinals and pick up more doubles points!

In the semifinals of doubles, we played the Johnson brothers (Yates and Hunter) who were the #1 seeds. They are both ranked #270 in doubles. They play traditional doubles and have very good volleys. Another strength is that they have played together so much so they have great chemistry and hit the right shots. My partner and I didn’t get the best start as we got broken in my first service game after being up 40-0. We found ourselves in a quick 3-0 hole. We had two break points at 2-4 in the 1^st set but couldn’t convert. We got broken in another tough game at 2-5 to lose the first set 2-6. I thought we played an ok first set, but we didn’t make enough first serves and we also didn’t return at a high enough level. Credit to our opponents who were returning very well. Unfortunately we didn’t get a good start in the 2^nd set either as they broke us on the No-Ad point in our first service game. This was not the start we wanted but credit to them as they hit two return winners in that game. They continued to serve well by making a high percentage and placing their serves well. We got down 0-3 in the 2^nd set as well. We got another hold at 1-4 to make it 2-4 but we couldn’t get it back on serve. They broke us again to close out the match and we lost 2-6, 2-6. This wasn’t our best tennis, but our opponents played very well so they deserved the win. Still a good run to the semifinals. For making the semifinals of doubles and the 1^st round of singles, I earned $300 for the week.

I tried to sign-in for the $100,000 challenger in Tiburon but didn’t get in. It was a very tough cutoff of 600 and thus my ranking wasn’t high enough. I need to continue working to improve my ranking to get into bigger tournaments. I then headed home to play in the Fountain Valley $15,000 Futures. I was only able to play doubles in this tournament because I went up the weekend before to sign-in for Tiburon. This week I teamed up with Conor Berg who is from Northern California. He is a lefty with a good serve and an unorthodox game. He plays very flat from the baseline and also has a good slice.

We played our first round against Kaster/Vance. I had just played Kaster last week but he was playing with a different partner. They were a good team who volleyed pretty well and had solid serves. They started out serving and got on the board first. Both teams started off with a few holds which made it 2-all. We then had two break points on their serve but didn’t convert. My partner and I were serving well and not losing many points on our serve. We continued to have a few more opportunities to break but our opponents saved them all. At 5-5 we again had another break point but they saved it with a big serve. I felt like we were definitely the better team as we had 5 break point chances compared to them not having any break points on our serve. A tiebreak would decide the first set. The first 3 points went to serve as they took a 2-1 lead. We then responded by winning both of the points on our serve to go up 3-2. We then got a mini break to go up 4-2 after we hit a good return. They won the next point on their serve to make it 4-3. Then my partner hit two quality serves to put us up 6-3. We had a good look on the next point but couldn’t finish it. They cut our lead to 6-5. We played a tough point until our opponents missed a difficult volley to take the first set 7-6(5). We broke right away in the 2^nd set to jump out to a quick 3-0 lead. We continued our momentum by breaking them again to go up 5-0. We started to get in a good rhythm on our returns. We closed out the match 7-6(5), 6-1. It was our first time playing together so it took a little time to get familiar with each other’s games.

In the quarterfinals we played the team of Strode/Kohen. Both players had good groundstrokes and played aggressive. The match started with three holds from each each. At 3-3, we got broken in a tough game after they played a good return game. They held for 5-3 in the first set. But we stayed in it and got a hold to make it 4-5. We then played a great return game and made a lot of shots to get the break back. Both teams won their next service game to bring us to a 1^st set tiebreak. We got out to an early mini break to go up 3-1. The next points remained tight as most of the points went to serve. At 4-2, they hit a good serve to cut our lead to 4-3. At 4-3, I hit a big serve and my partner put away the volley. At 5-3, we lost a tough point to get it back on serve. At 5-4, they came up with 2 good points to go up 6-5. They hit a great return and we lost the first set 6-7(5). We had a lot of opportunities but didn’t convert in that 1^st set. It was important to get a good start in the 2^nd set. We did just that by holding and then breaking them. We jumped out to a 3-0 lead. We started to return better and also took care of our serves. We got another break to go up 5-0. My partner and I closed out the 2^nd set 6-1. A match tiebreak would decide the match. We got the 1^st point on their serve to get the mini-break. Then we won both points on our serve to take a 3-0 lead. We continued to play well and had a 6-0 lead in the tiebreak. They kept fighting and it got a little closer. They won the next three points to cut our lead to 6-3. We split out service points to take a 7-4 lead. Then we won one of the points returning to give us an 8-5 lead. My partner hit two good 1^st serves to close out the match 6-7(5), 6-1, 10-5. It was a good comeback after we lost a tough first set. We were on to the semifinals which means more doubles points.

In the semifinals we played the team of Bolla (Itlay) and Ruehl (Germany). They had taken out the #1 seeds earlier in the tournament so they were a solid team. Both of them play for Arizona State. They were both crafty players who had good touch and volleys. However, they didn’t have the biggest serves which gave us a lot of chances. In the first set we jumped out to a 3-1 lead after we played a solid return game. We then saved two break points on our serve to consolidate the break and take a 4-1 lead. We broke again to go up 5-1. Then they played a good return game to break us and they subsequently held to make it 5-3. We then closed out the first set 6-3. The second set was tight the whole way. We had a few break points in the second game but didn’t convert. They held to even it at 2-all. Our opponents had a few games in the second set where they were up 30-40 on our serve but each time we saved the break points. We were coming up clutch as we saved two break points at 3-4. We got a big hold to make it 4-all. The next few games were fairly straightforward to make it 5-all. We then had 0-30 on their serve and one break point on the No-Ad point but they saved it. We held to send it to a tiebreak. We got a fast 3-0 lead after getting the mini-break. We won the next point to make it 4-0. They won the next two points to cut our lead to 4-2. My partner hit a good serve to give us a 5-2 lead. We split the next two points on their serve to go up 6-3. We won the next point on my serve to close out a solid 6-3, 7-6(3) win to advance to the finals. I thought we played a solid match but we needed to return better in the 2^nd set to give us more opportunities.

In the finals, we faced Cressy (UCLA) and Cozbinov (UNLV). This was a very good team, with both having great serves and solid volleys. We saved two break points on our serve in the 1^st game. Then both teams got a solid hold. We were up 2-1 and had two break points on their serve but they came up with clutch points. They held for 2-2. We then got broken in a tough game where we didn’t make enough 1^st serves. Our opponents also hit a few good returns. At 2-4 we lost another close service game on my serve on a No-Ad point after a tough call on the point before. At 40-30 I hit an unreturnable serve that was called out but the chair umpire corrected it. We had to replay the point even though they had no chance of getting the return in. They served out the first set 6-2. We got down an early break in the second set and found ourselves in a 1-4 hold. We had two chances to get it back on serve but couldn’t convert. They continued to play very well, putting in a lot of quality returns. They closed out the match in the next game and we lost 2-6, 2-6. I felt like we had a lot of opportunities but didn’t convert as we were 0-4 on break points. We also didn’t take care of our own serves and didn’t make a high enough percentage of 1^st serves. Still a good run to the finals and we picked up 10 more ATP doubles points. My partner and I each earned $270 for making the finals of doubles.

My points from making the semifinals of Laguna Niguel went in the computer and I am up to #703 in doubles this week.

“Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives but none about his or her own.” -from The Alchemist

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