2016 WTT OC Breakers

August 3rd, 2016

Hey Tennis Friends!
The World Team Tennis has begun, and there are only a few matches left in the shortened season to see our Southern California team, the Orange County Breakers.

With my emcee duties for the team, my reports are a little bit limited, but I was still able to get some great highlights, and a quick interview with first time Olympian, Steve Johnson!

World Team Tennis is a chance to see men and women from the pro ATP and WTA tours playing alongside each other in a team format. It’s like going to a Grand Slam, as each night you will see men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles all in one evening!

It’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll” tennis as the games are fast (no-ad scoring) and there is a lot of music, entertainment, and excitement! Once again, I have been selected to be the stadium emcee. In celebration of all of my Tennis Friends, I am sharing a promo code for discount tickets to all home matches. You can get the GroundsPass.net discount of 15% if you use the promo code: GROUNDSPASS

Come out and see the Orange County Breakers tennis stars like you’ve never seen them before, including:
Alla Kudryavtseva – 2015 WTT Rookie of the Year, she owns 1 WTA Tour singles title, and 8 WTA Tour doubles titles!
Dennis Novikov – Former UCLA standout who just made it into the second round at Wimbledon on Tuesday!
Nicole Gibbs – Four-time NCAA champion at Stanford who made it into the Round of 16 at Indian wells this year!
Scott Lipsky – 2011 french Open mixed doubles champion and former Stanford star!

Scheduled to play in home matches against the Orange County Breakers are:
Raven Klaasen, SHELBY ROGERS, Daniel Evans, Daria Jurak, LEANDER PAES, Madison Brengle, MARDY FISH, Anastasia Rodionova, Maria Irigoyen, CHRISTINA MCHALE, Oliver Marach, Guido Pella, RYAN HARRISON, Naomi Broady, Fabrice Martin, Lucas Lacko, Daria Kasatkina, DANIEL NESTOR, Michaella Krajcek, Daria Gavrilova, BENJAMIN BECKER!

The five remaining home matches will be held outdoors (where tennis SHOULD be played) at the Newport Beach Tennis Club in Newport Beach, and (offsite/shuttle-access) parking will be at the price we love at GroundsPass.net: Absolutely FREE!

Check out the Breakers’ website below and don’t forget to use the promo code “GROUNDSPASS” in order to get your 15% discount!

Please spread this message to all of your Tennis Friends A.S.A.P.

For information on the Orange County Breakers’ season, go to the official website. Choose your ticket options here: BreakersTennis.com

Or, look for YOUR local team on the official World Team Tennis website here: wtt.com
(The GroundsPass.net discount ONLY applies to the Breakers tickets)

Be sure to share GroundsPass.net with your other Tennis Friends using the social networking buttons, below.

Subscribe for FREE to this site, my Twitter feed, and/or friend me on FaceBook.

I’ll see you next time, with more tennis, . . . outside the lines!

– Marcus Tennis

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2016 WTT Discount Tickets

June 29th, 2016

Hey Tennis Friends!
The World Team Tennis season begins in August, and our Southern California team, the Orange County Breakers are returning with a splash!

World Team Tennis is a chance to see men and women from the pro ATP and WTA tours playing alongside each other in a team format. It’s like going to a Grand Slam, as each night you will see men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, and mixed doubles all in one evening!
CM8R3664

It’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll” tennis as the games are fast (no-ad scoring) and there is a lot of music, entertainment, and excitement! Once again, I have been selected to be the stadium emcee. In celebration of all of my Tennis Friends, I have procured a promo code for discount tickets to all home matches. You can get the GroundsPass.net discount of 15% if you use the promo code: GROUNDSPASS

Come out and see the Orange County Breakers tennis stars like you’ve never seen them before, including:
Steve Johnson – SoCal resident and 2 time NCAA singles champion, who led his team to 4 NCAA championships, and will be appearing at the home opener just before he goes off to the Olympics!
Alla Kudryavtseva – 2015 WTT Rookie of the Year, she owns 1 WTA Tour singles title, and 8 WTA Tour doubles titles!
Dennis Novikov – Former UCLA standout who just made it into the second round at Wimbledon on Tuesday!
Nicole Gibbs – Four-time NCAA champion at Stanford who made it into the Round of 16 at Indian wells this year!
Scott Lipsky – 2011 french Open mixed doubles champion and former Stanford star!

Scheduled to play in home matches against the Orange County Breakers are:
Raven Klaasen, SHELBY ROGERS, Daniel Evans, Daria Jurak, LEANDER PAES, Madison Brengle, MARDY FISH, Anastasia Rodionova, Maria Irigoyen, CHRISTINA MCHALE, Oliver Marach, Guido Pella, Naomi Broady, Fabrice Martin, Lucas Lacko, Daria Kasatkina, DANIEL NESTOR, Michaella Krajcek, Daria Gavrilova, BENJAMIN BECKER!

The six home matches will be held outdoor (where tennis SHOULD be played) at the Newport Beach Tennis Club in Newport Beach, and parking will be at the price we love at GroundsPass.net: Absolutely FREE!

Check out the Breakers’ website below and don’t forget to use the promo code “GROUNDSPASS” in order to get your 15% discount!

Please spread this message to all of your Tennis Friends A.S.A.P.
I met with the general manager yesterday, and ticket sales are brisk. You know me, I wouldn’t say that if it weren’t true, and I don’t want you to miss out on the action!

For information on the Orange County Breakers season, and to get your discount tickets, go to the official website: BreakersTennis.com

Or, look for YOUR local team on the official World Team Tennis website here: wtt.com
(The GroundsPass.net discount ONLY applies to the Breakers tickets)

Be sure to share GroundsPass.net with your other Tennis Friends using the social networking buttons, below.

Subscribe for FREE to this site, my Twitter feed, and/or friend me on FaceBook.

I’ll see you next time, with more tennis, . . . outside the lines!

– Marcus Tennis

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2015 ASICS Easter Bowl Ntl Spring Champs II

April 3rd, 2016

Oops, . . . as we used to say “my bad” . . .
A random Tennis Friend approached me at the BNP Paribas Open a couple of weeks ago, and said that he never saw my coverage of the finals of last year’s ASICS Easter Bowl. I thought that I had already posted this report, only to find that it was still “in the can”. Now, it makes a great preview for THIS year’s event!
Here is the long lost report:

Hey Tennis Friends!

Here is part two, the final rounds of the ITF (18s) portion of the National Spring Championships, known as the ASICS Easter Bowl:

Here are the scores for the matches that I featured (seedings in parenthesis):

GIRLS’ 18s SINGLES CHAMPIONSHIP
(12) Claire Liu d. (2) Katie Swan 6-2, 3-6, 6-2
Liu joins former Thousand Oaks residents Sam Querrey (2005) and Marcos Giron (2011) to have won 18s titles at the ASICS Easter Bowl, and became one the youngest to win the 18s in tournament history.

Liu said she lost focus and her level of play dipped after a solid first set which she won 6-2. But she was able to get an early break of serve and take a 3-0 lead in the third set.

“I think I played pretty well,” said Liu. “In the first and third set I played better than I did in the second. I just wasn’t there in the second and had a lot of unforced errors.”

She chose several critical points to come to the net and recorded several put-away volleys. “I tried to come in as much as I could and it seemed to help,” she said, adding, “It feels really good to win the Easter Bowl.”

Liu said this tournament was important to her as she is trying to earn enough ITF points to get into the main draw at the Junior French Open.

Liu said she got better as the week went on. “After every match I did better,” she said. “At the beginning I was nervous and then as I started to get into it. I just started to play more relaxed as the tournament went on.”

Swan was playing in her second straight ITF 18s final, falling to CiCi Bellis one year ago. “It was tough and a battle,” Swan said. “I didn’t serve as well as I could have. I’m disappointed with the result, but it was great to be in two straight finals.”

BOYS’ 18s SINGLES CHAMPIONSHIP
(1) Taylor Fritz d. (14) Sam Riffice 6-2, 6-3
The top-seeded Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., resident Fritz, who came back from down a set, and 0-5, to win a third-round match on Thursday, continued his high level of play on the final day of the tournament.

Fritz smiled when asked after the match if he was more determined to win following such an amazing comeback. “Of course,” he said. “After you have one of those it makes you more determined to win the whole thing.” He added: “It’s crazy to think how early in the tournament that was and I still had so many more matches to go. I just got better and better each match after that. And it woke me up because I had never been that far down before and came back.”

Just one week ago, Fritz was flying home from China after making the finals in the ITF Junior Masters. He was asked what lessons were learned during the week. “That I can play pretty well jet-lagged,” he said. “I learned I don’t have to always play my best tennis and can still win. As long as I can just keep fighting and keep my head in it. Sometime all you need is the heart to win the matches.”

Fritz and Riffice played some unbelievably high-level and entertaining points in front of a nice crowd on hand on a hot 90-degree day in the desert.

“I wanted to dictate more and play a little more offensively,” said Riffice, of Roseville, Calif. “Right off my serve he was pushing me back. He’s improved a lot since we played last. He wasn’t missing many serves and had a good first-serve percentage.”

Fritz added: “Sam and I play very similar. He moves better than I do but we both try to be aggressive. I was just able to take the first strike before he was and was a little more aggressive when I had to be.”

Fritz, who will likely move up a spot to No. 3 in the ITF world junior rankings, said he wasn’t sure if he was going to play the USTA Pro Circuit Challenger in Tallahassee, Fla., on clay April 25-May 2 that he had originally planned to. He will travel to Spain and Italy for ITF Grade A junior events, before playing the French Open Juniors where he will be one of the top seeds.

Fritz said after playing great in China, his play slumped at the start of the week, but got progressively better, especially his serve. “Everything but the serve was working good (this week),” he said. “But today it was working better than it has so I can’t complain.”

Additional information in this report was provided by the ASICS Easter Bowl PR Press Aide, Steve Pratt.

Be sure to share GroundsPass.net with your other Tennis Friends using the social networking buttons, below.

Subscribe for FREE to this site, my Twitter feed, and/or friend me on FaceBook.

I’ll see you next time, with more tennis, . . . outside the lines!

– Marcus Tennis

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2016 USTA Pro Circuit – Long Beach, CA

January 24th, 2016

Hey Tennis Friends!

Welcome to the ninth season here at GroundsPass.net!

Just last week, I took a trip to the USTA Pro Circuit Long Beach Futures Pro Tournament to cover the finals for the second year of this event:

Here is the result for the featured match:

CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND:
Yannick Hanfmann d. Michael Mmoh 6-4, 6-0

Mmoh’s father, Tony Mmoh, was a professional tennis player from Nigeria, and once reached a high of No. 105 in the world. Michael Mmoh grew up in Saudi Arabia. Since then, his family moved to the United States to train full-time, and settled near the Washington D.C. area.

Mmoh trains at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., and has been ranked as high as No. 2 in the world ITF junior rankings after reaching the singles semifinals at the junior French Open and the quarterfinals at the junior U.S. Open in 2015. He won his first career USTA Pro Circuit singles title at the $15,000 Futures in Brownsville, Texas, in 2014. He added two additional USTA Pro Circuit titles in 2015 at the $15,000 Futures in Godfrey, Ill., and the $15,000 Futures in Houston.

The 24-year-old Hanfmann, who graduated last May with a degree in International Studies, beat fellow college graduate Eric Quigley, 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinal.

Hanfmann, who was top-seeded in qualifying the previous week at USC, winning three rounds before falling in the second round of the main draw, gained direct entry into the Long Beach Tournament in part because of withdraws from Tennys Sandgren and Mackenzie McDonald.

“I like it this way better,” said Hanfmann, who has won two Pro Futures titles, both $10,000 events in his native Germany. “Not having to qualify does make things easier for me.”

Hanfmann thinks Mmoh has the potential to make it big, if he can stay focused and aggressive. “I think he’s got a lot of weapons and I just told him I thought he played a little bit too passive today,” Hanfmann said. “Maybe he was a little bit nervous, but I think once he steps up and starts hitting that big forehand and good backhand and starts using his weapons, I think he can be really dangerous.”

GroundsPass.net subscribers may remember Hanfmann when he was featured in my coverage of the USC Trojans’ men’s tennis team as they took on the Cal Berkeley Golden Bears back in 2014:
2014 USC v. CAL

Additional information in this report was provided by the USTA Pro Circuit PR Press Aide, Steve Pratt.

Here is the link to the page with the USTA Pro-Circuit events that we have in the United States this year:
2015 USTA Pro Circuit Calendars

Be sure to share GroundsPass.net with your other Tennis Friends using the social networking buttons, below.

Subscribe for FREE to this site, my Twitter feed, and/or friend me on FaceBook.

I’ll see you next time, with more tennis, . . . outside the lines!

– Marcus Tennis

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2015 Carlsbad Classic IV

November 27th, 2015

Hey Tennis Friends!

It’s my final day of coverage at the Carlsbad Classic!

It was Thanksgiving day here in the United States, and it was odd for me not to be with family . . . However, I was surrounded by Tennis Friends. The ones that are crazy enough to leave their traditions behind, just to watch some pro tennis, are the best kind. Here’s my report:

Here are the results for the matches that I featured:

SECOND ROUND SINGLES (with seedings):
(1) Yanina Wickmayer d. Kristie Ahn 7-5, 6-3

CiCi Bellis d. Kat Stewart 6-2, 5-7, 6-4

What a great match! Truth be told, I was hoping it would go three sets, just so that I could see more tennis from these two. Kat actually saved two match points, too!

There are still a few days left to come out and check out the action!

For tickets and more information on the Carlsbad Classic
at the Park Hyatt Aviara Resort in Carlsbad, CA, visit the event web site here:
www.cldclassic.com

Be sure to share GroundsPass.net with your other Tennis Friends using the social networking buttons, below.

Subscribe for FREE to this site, my Twitter feed, and/or friend me on FaceBook.

I’ll see you next time, with more tennis, . . . outside the lines!

– Marcus Tennis

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