Connor Smith Wins Again in Israel, Fanselow Too Good in Claremont, McGee Takes Cary, Doubles Success, College ATP Rankings

Sebastian Fanselow (Pepperdine ’13) won his first singles title of the year, third of his career, after defeating UCLA freshman Evan Zhu 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-3 at the $10K USA F28 Futures in Claremont, California. Fanselow and Sebastian Bader (Hawaii Pacific ’11) made it to the doubles final a few days earlier but fell to Alexios Halebian and Luis Patino 7-5, 6-4. Steve Pratt had a nice recap of the singles final with some good quotes from Fanselow so give it a read if you get the chance.

James McGee (NC State ’08) won his first Challenger singles title, and first pro singles title since 2013, with a 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 win over Ernesto Escobedo at the $50K Challenger in Cary, North Carolina. Josh Meiseles had an interesting recap of McGee’s week which had him originally scheduled to play in China before being rerouted to Cary at the last minute.

Ray Sarmiento (USC ’14) was seeking his second career singles title but he wasn’t able to close out Laurent Lokoli at the $25K+H Futures in Mulhouse, France. Sarmiento got broke serving for the match up 5-4 and 6-5 (led 40/0) in the third before falling 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(4). All total he had five match points in that 6-5 service game.

Sadio Doumbia (Georgia ’12) won his first career Challenger doubles title when he partnered with Calvin Hemery to defeat Marco Chiudinelli and Marius Copil 6-4, 6-3 at the $75K Challenger in Istanbul, Turkey.

Andre Begemann (Pepperdine ’08) won his third Challenger doubles title of the year as he and Aliaksandr Bury defeated Johan Brunstrom (SMU ’03) and Andreas Siljestrom (Middle Tennessee State ’07) 7-6(3), 6-7(7), 10-4 in the finals of the $106K Challenger in Szczecin, Poland. It was Begemann’s 29th career doubles title and 16th at the Challlenger level.

Rhyne Williams (Tennessee) and Hans Hach (Abliene Christian ’13) won their second straight doubles title after defeating Juan Aguilar and Benjamin Sigoin 6-3, 6-3 to win the $25K Canada F8 Futures in Toronto. It was Williams’s 9th career doubles title while it was Hach’s 15th. Williams also made the singles final in Toronto before falling 6-3, 6-4 to Filip Peliwo.

Maddie Kobelt (Syracuse ’14) won her second doubles title this year, third of her career, when she and Vlada Ekshibarova defeated Keren Shlomo and Alona Pushkarevsky 4-6, 7-5, 10-8 at the ITF $10K in Ashkelon, Israel.

Luisa Stefani (Pepperdine Soph) won her first professional title when she and Ingrid Neel (Florida commit) won the ITF $50K in Atlanta with a 4-6, 6-4, 10-5 win over Alexandra Stevenson and Taylor Townsend.

Emina Bektas (Michigan ’15) and Catherine Harrison (UCLA ’16) won the ITF $25K in Lubbock, Texas, with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Ema Burgic Bucko (Baylor ’15) and Renata Zarazua. The title was Bektas’s third doubles title this year, fourth of her career, while it was Harrison’s second of the year and third of her career.

Pro Titles/Finals This Past Week:

Singles:
USA (CH) – James McGee (NC State ’08)
Israel – Connor Smith (Ohio State ’13)
USA – Sebastian Fanselow (Pepperdine ’13)

Doubles:
Poland (CH) – Andre Begemann (Pepperdine ’08)
Turkey (CH) – Sadio Doumbia (Georgia ’12)
Canada – Rhyne Williams (Tennessee ’11*)/Hans Hach (Abilene Christian ’13)
Israel – Connor Smith (Ohio State ’13)
Israel – Madeleine Kobelt (Syracuse ’14)
USA $50K – Luisa Stefani (Pepperdine Soph)
USA $25K – Emina Bektas (Michigan ’15)/Catherine Harrison (UCLA ’16)

Runner-Ups:

Singles:
Canada – Rhyne Williams (Tennessee ’11*)
France – Ray Sarmiento (USC ’14)
USA – Evan Zhu (UCLA Fr)

Doubles:
China (CH) – Nicolas Barrientos (West Florida ’08)/Ruben Gonzales (Illinois ’08)
Poland (CH) – Johan Brunstrom (SMU ’03)/Andreas Siljestrom (Middle Tennessee State ’07)
USA (CH) – Austin Krajicek (Texas A&M ’11)
USA – Sebastian Fanselow (Pepperdine ’13)/Sebastian Bader (Hawaii Pacific ’11)
USA $25K – Ema Burgic Bucko (Baylor ’15)
Israel – Nathaniel Lammons (SMU ’16)/Dane Webb (Oklahoma ’15)

Virginia junior Alexander Ritschard made the biggest jump of current college players in this week’s ATP rankings rising 719 spots to 1038. The jump was due to Ritschard picking up 8 points after making it to the semifinals of the $25K Canada F7 Futures in Toronto.

TCU junior Cameron Norrie and Virginia freshman Carl Soderlund are the only current college players with a ranking inside the top 500 although there are 20 current players in the ATP Top 1000.

Steve Johnson, John Isner, Kevin Anderson, and Benjamin Becker are each in the top 100 with Raveev Ram just 13 spots back at 113. Dennis Novikov continues to rise and is now up to 133 while James McGee is back inside the top 200 after his Challenger win.

I listed everyone that I recognized with at least 2 ATP points but if I skipped over someone let me know. To view the table below in a separate window click here – there are two tabs below – one for current players and the other for both current and former players (combined).