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It is not easy to follow parents who are successful in their respective professional sports, especially it seems in tennis.
Currently, Sebastian Korda, aged 21 and 38, son of former Australian Open champion Petr Korda, is changing the dialogue, as is Taylor Fritz, 30, to a lesser extent. Fritz’s mother is Kathy May Fritz, a former top 10 player with seven WTA singles titles on her resume.
Now Ben Shelton is trying to outdo the accomplishments of his father, Bryan Shelton, who reached a career-best 55th in the ATP Rankings in 1992. Shelton, the No.4 seed at Vero Beach this week, has had a slow start ahead. to bounce back. to a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 win over Blaise Bicknell in a second round match at the $ 15,000 ITF Tennis Championships from the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation at Boulevard Tennis Club.
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There didn’t seem to be any love lost between the former University of Florida teammates. Although he won an NCAA National Team Championship together under the guidance of Shelton’s coach / father, Bicknell, who went 32-0 in singles to become the fourth Gator to have an undefeated season and the first since 1976, recently transferred to Tennessee where he will be coached by former 73rd ranked pro Chris Woodruff.
Both players loudly celebrated the winning shots as if they were playing against a hated rival in a heated college tennis match. the first match of the set. Shelton kept his cool against an injury and closed the game.
“It was definitely a good game,” Shelton said. “We played a lot together on the same pitch. It was an uphill battle. I knew when I got there it was going to be a battle. I’m glad I was able to qualify for the next round.
Next for left-hander Shelton’s quarter-final game will be fellow 19-year-old and sixth-seeded Liam Drexl of Canada, who earned a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Frenchman Loris Pourroy.
The 477th-ranked Drexl attends the University of Kentucky, where he was named the school’s first ITA National Player of the Year and was an All-American singles player (25-3) last season. .
Late Wednesday night, former ATP Top 40 star Donald Young opened the game with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over American teenager Jack Anthrop. It was the first singles victory for Young, 32, since April in the first round of qualifying at the Tallahassee Challenger. Before beating Anthrop, Young had lost his last nine games in pro singles. Formerly ranked 38th in the world in 2017, Young, the former member of the US Olympics and Davis Cup team, saw his ranking drop to No.451, forcing him to play at the $ 15,000 level. on the ITF World Tennis Tour. .
“It’s awesome,” Young said after his emotional victory Wednesday night in front of an admiring Vero Beach crowd. “It’s nice to play in front of fans. Last year and earlier this year there weren’t many people allowed to watch. It’s an amazing feeling and it makes him more normal.
Young won early against Anthrop, 17, who does not have an ATP ranking but is ranked 26th in the ITF World Junior Rankings. Young looked set to wrap up a relatively easy win by leading with a 4-3 break of serve in the second set, but suddenly made unforced errors and hit a few double faults and allowed Anthrop to get back into the game. Young held on and beat Anthrop again 5-5 before closing the game.
“It got tense there,” Young admitted. “I haven’t won a lot of games (lately) and got a little nervous during a break, but he started to be a lot more aggressive and go get his shots and play big. -Tennis boy. For me. , get through that and not hit a third set and live to play another day and get matches and real reps is important. ”
The game continues until Sunday. Updated results are available at www.TennisVeroBeach.com
Mardy Fish Foundation Tennis Championships for Children
Second single round – first results
Ben Shelton (Gainesville, Fla.) Defeats. Blaise Bicknell (Jamaica) 3-6, 6-1, 6-2
Liam Draxl (Canada) defeated. Loris Pourroy (France) 7-5, 6-4
Duarte Vale (Portugal) defeated. Diogo Marques (Portugal) 6-3, 6-3
Ezekiel Clark (Tulsa, Okla.) Defeats. Michael Zheng (Montville, NJ) 6-2, 6-4
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