Amelia Island, Fl., November 19, 2009 – The biggest upset at today’s Ravenswood Wine Amelia Island Futures Championships was the 55-minute undoing of the tournament’s No. 1 seed, Conor Niland by unseeded, 2009 All-American singles and doubles titlist at Louisiana State University, Michael Venus. After having lost to Niland two weeks ago at the Futures event in Birmingham in straight sets, Venus decided to change his strategy for today’s match at Amelia Island. “I decided to go for it early,” stated Venus. “After playing him in Birmingham, I knew he (Niland) was a solid baseliner and knew I needed to try and shorten the points in order to win.” Venus’s strategy paid off with a 6-3, 6-2 win over the tournament’s No. 1 seed.
Rising youngster Jack Sock from Lincoln, Nebraska took down the tournament’s No. 4 seed, Matej Bocko with fearless shots, 6-3, 6-0. At 17 years-of-age, Wildcard entry Sock, describes his game as “an aggressive baseline game, I’m always looking for the right ball for my forehand.” Sock made his debut on the USTA Pro Circuit this year. The Ravenswood Wine Amelia Island Futures Championships is the fifth Futures tournament of his career. Sock currently holds the unique distinction of begin the No. 1 player in both the USTA Boys’ 18s and 16s National Standings simultaneously.
James Lemke from Australia stopped the tournament’s No. 3 seed, Romanian Catalin-Ionut Gard, 6-3, 6-3. Lemke next faces advancing qualifier Denes Lukacs who took down USA’s Devin Britton in straight sets 6-2, 6-2.
Other advancing seeds include; No. 2 Artem Sitak from Russia, No. 6 Adam El Mihdawy of New York, No. 7 Miami native, Dennis Zivkovic and Wesley Chapel, Florida resident Alex Domijan.
Tomorrow’s quarterfinal matches begin at 11:00am. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children. The quarterfinal rounds kick off the tournament’s local charity giving program where all gate entry fees are donated to three participating charities; Linda’s Legacy Foundation (Friday), the Fernandina Beach Rotary Club (Saturday) and the MaliVai Washington Kids Foundation (Sunday). Additional tournament proceeds will be donated to “Tennis Without Borders,” a nonprofit organization which was started in 2002 by Joan Teaford and Kelly Gunterman. For more information, please visit TennisWithoutBorders.org.
The inaugural Ravenswood Wine Amelia Island Futures Championships is the third of three $10,000 clay court Futures events that round out the 2009 Pro Circuit men’s season. Amelia Island is one of eight men’s Futures events held in Florida during the 2009 calendar, the most of any state.
The tournament features 32 singles players and a 16-team doubles field and is held at Amelia Island Plantation in Amelia Island, Florida. Admission to the tournament is free Nov., 17-19.
