Master’U BNP Paribas Set To Begin; Pro Circuit Recap – Robert Galloway and Benjamin Lock Continue to Dominate in Dubs

The 12th annual Master’U BNP Paribas is set to begin in France with several current and former US college players set to participate in the eight-team event that Team USA has dominated since 2011. Team USA will be represented by UCLA’s Martin Redlicki and Ena Shibahara, USC’s Brandon Holt, Pepperdine’s Ashley Lahey, Florida’s Alfredo Perez, and North Carolina’s Alle Sanford. Other players with US college tennis ties are Michael Geerts (Arizona State Sr/Belgium), Louis Cant (Mississippi State ’12/Belgium), Jane Fennelly (Notre Dame ’17/Ireland), Pippa Horn (Texas ’15/Great Britain), and Jack Findel-Hawkins (North Florida ’17/Great Britain). The eight countries participating are the United State, France, Great Britain, Germany, Belgium, China, Russia, and Ireland. Live scoring will be available at this link and there is a tournament program here though most of it is in French. Boise State head coach Greg Patton is writing a blog for USTA.com so you can check out his Thursday post at this link.

First-Round Pairings:
[1] USA vs. France
[4] Germany vs. Belgium
[3] Great Britain vs. Ireland
[2] Russia vs. China

Former Wofford Terrier Rob Galloway and former FSU Seminole Benjamin Lock continued their tear through the ITF doubles circuit by winning a title for the fourth week in a row with the latest one coming at the South Africa F1 Futures in Stellenbosch. Galloway and Lock ran their winning streak to 15 with a 5-7, 6-2, 10-5 win over Peter Heller and George Von Massow. Galloway’s doubles ranking actually dropped one spot to 330 since he was defending 18 points from winning a $15K last year but Lock’s ranking rose to a new career high of 263. Galloway and Lock are playing at the South Africa F2 Futures this week which also happens to be in Stellenbosch. 

Recent Oklahoma State graduate Arjun Kadhe won his first career pro title by defeating Big 12 rival and recent Oklahoma graduate Andrew Harris (top seed) 7-5, 6-3 in the finals at the Vietnam F3 Futures in Thu Dau Mot City. Kadhe won all five of his matches in straight sets which also included a 6-3, 7-5 win over the No. 2 seed Nam Hoang Ly. Kadhe’s current ranking of 752 is a career high and when these 18 points are added in next week he’ll have another career high of around 613. Harris’s current ranking of 490 is seven spot below his career high but when these 10 points are added in next week he’ll rise all the way up to around 450. 

Former Ole Miss Rebel Nik Scholtz won his fifth singles title of the year, 12th career, with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Leny Mitjana in the finals of the South Africa F1 Futures in Stellenbosch. Scholtz won all five of his matches in straight sets which included a 6-2, 7-6 win over former SEC rival Tom Jomby of Kentucky. Scholtz is currently ranked 400 and when these 18 points are added in next week he’ll see his ranking rise to roughly 359 (CH-320). 

Recent Yale graduate Tyler Lu won his first career pro title as he and Kelsey Stevenson won the doubles title at the Vietnam F3 Futures in Thu Dau Mot City. Lu and Stevenson were pushed to a third set in their opening round match but then won the next three in straight sets including a 7-6, 7-5 win in the final. Lu has his own blog chronicling his travels on the tour plus he has a GoFundMe page.

Former Miami Hurricane Wilfredo Gonzalez and former Cal Bear Florian Lakat each made their first career pro singles final last week in Egypt and Mexico respectively. 

Gonzalez cruised through his first three matches in Sharm El Sheikh before coming back from a set down to advance to the finals with a 0-6, 6-2, 6-2 win over unseeded Daniil Zarichanskiy. In the finals, Gonzalez went down 6-3, 6-2 to the No. 5 seed Romain Barbosa. Gonzalez picked up 10 ATP points with the finals appearance and when those are added in next week he’ll have a new career high of around 862. 

Lakat had to win a pair of matches in qualies to advance to the main draw in Monterrey and then he rolled another four matches in straight sets, including a 7-6, 7-5 win over the No. 2 seed Lucas Catarina, to advance to the final. Lakat ran out of gas in the final and fell 6-1, 6-2 to the No. 5 seed Mick Lescure. Lakat picked up 10 ATP points for his efforts and he’ll see his ranking shoot up to a new career high of around 847 next week.

Former USF Don Bernardo Saraiva made his second career singles final at the Brazil F3 Futures in Sao Paulo. After winning his first two matches, Saraiva only dropped one game (total) in his quarterfinal and semifinal wins but unfortunately he fell 6-4, 6-3 in the finals to the No. 6 seed Jose Pereira. Saraiva picked up 10 ATP points and when those are added in next week he’ll have a new career high of around 694 

Below is a list of last weekend’s winners and runner-ups on the pro circuit.

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* didn’t stay in college for all four years