TOURNAMENT NOTES as of March 13, 2014 THE USTA MEN’S PRO TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS OF CALABASAS CALABASAS, CA • MARCH 15–23 USTA PRO CIRCUIT RETURNS TO CALABASAS TOURNAMENT INFORMATION The USTA Men’s Pro Tennis Championships of Calabasas returns to Calabasas, Calif., Site: Calabasas Tennis & Swim Center for the third consecutive year as a $15,000 Calabasas, Calif. USTA Pro Circuit event, following a one-year hiatus in 2011. It served as a $50,000 Anthony Behar Websites: www.calabasasprotennis.com Challenger for 10 years (from 2001 to 2010). procircuit.usta.com It is the second of four $15,000 USTA Pro Facebook: Top Seed – Calabasas Circuit hard-court men’s tournaments and one of nine events held in California in 2014. Twitter: @calabasastennis Qualifying Draw Begins: Saturday, March 15 Notable players competing in the main draw include: Main Draw Begins: Tuesday, March 18 Main Draw: 32 Singles / 16 Doubles 2012 Calabasas singles runner-up Daniel Kosakowski, who competed for one season at Surface: Hard / Outdoor UCLA, playing in the No. 1 singles position Prize Money: $15,000 for the Bruins and earning 2011 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year honors. Kosakowski Tournament Director: turned professional that same year and made Jeff Richards, (818) 388-1696, [email protected] a splash in 2012, his first full season as a 2012 Calabasas singles finalist and former Tournament Press Contact: pro, reaching the final round of qualifying at the US Open and winning back-to-back UCLA Bruin Daniel Kosakowski, the 2011 Steve Pratt, (310) 408-4555, [email protected] Pac-10 Freshman of the Year, holds three USTA Pro Circuit Futures events in California USTA Pro Circuit singles titles. USTA Public Relations Contact: following the US Open. On the strength of Amanda Korba, (914) 697-2219, [email protected] those victories, he cracked the Top 250 for the first time, after starting 2012 ranked final round of qualifying at the Australian PRIZE MONEY / POINTS outside the Top 400. Kosakowski spent the Open and reached the doubles final of SINGLES: Prize Money Ranking Points majority of 2013 competing overseas in the $50,000 USTA Pro Circuit Challenger Winner $2,160 27 ITF Men’s Circuit events in South America in Maui, Hawaii, with Nicolas Meister. Runner-up $1,272 15 and Asia. This year, he advanced to the Kosakowski comes from a tennis family; Semifinalist $753 8 his brother and two sisters all played or are Quarterfinalist $438 3 currently playing college tennis. Round of 16 $258 1 Round of 32 $156 - Sixteen-year-old Stefan Kozlov, who is the DOUBLES: Prize Money (per team) No. 2-ranked junior in the world. Kozlov was Winner $930 Ron Angle for USTA a junior singles finalist at the Australian Open Runner-up $540 in January, becoming the first American boy Semifinalist $324 to reach the singles final of a junior Grand Quarterfinalist $192 Slam event since Bjorn Fratangelo won Round of 16 $108 the 2011 French Open juniors. Kozlov also COMMUNITY EVENTS reached the singles final of the prestigious Metropolia Orange Bowl in December 2013. Sunday, March 16 He made his ATP World Tour main draw Pro-Am, 4:00-6:30 p.m. debut last summer in Newport, R.I., and took 30-year-old Michal Przysiezny, now ranked in Tuesday, March 18 the Top 80, to three sets. Kozlov trains with USPTA Coach Workshop, 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Friday, March 21 Stefan Kozlov, 16, is the No. 2-ranked junior in Pro-Am and Drill, 9:00-11:00 a.m. the world. He was a boys’ singles finalist at this Stadium Court Junior Exhibition, 6:00-7:30 p.m. year’s Australian Open, becoming the first U.S. boy to reach a Grand Slam tournament singles final since 2011. Saturday, March 22 USTA Jr. Team Tennis Kids’ Tennis Carnival, 4:00-5:30 p.m. *Player field subject to change TOURNAMENT NOTES USTA National Coach Nicolas Todero at the USTA Training Center – doubles titles (two in each discipline) on the USTA Pro Circuit last Headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla., as well as with his father, Andrei, year—the first titles of his career. As a freshman at UCLA, Giron who runs a tennis academy in Florida. earned honorable mention All-Pac-12 accolades and won all three of his singles matches (all over ranked opponents) during the NCAA Former University of Virginia standout Michael Shabaz, who reached Team Championships, helping UCLA reach the semifinals. He is the singles semifinals of the 2011 NCAA Championships and won ranked No. 4 in the latest Intercollegiate Tennis Association men’s the 2010 NCAA doubles title with Drew Courtney. Shabaz captured NCAA Division I singles rankings. his first USTA Pro Circuit singles title in July 2013, at the $10,000 Futures in Pittsburgh, and two weeks later won the title at the Tyler Hochwalt, who reached the semifinals of two ITF Men’s Circuit $10,000 Futures in Godfrey, Ill. As a junior player, he won the events in 2013 and the quarterfinals in four others. Hochwalt played Wimbledon doubles title in 2005 (with Jesse Levine). collegiately for the University of Florida. He competed primarily in India for the first two months of 2014. Nicolas Meister, the highest-ranked American in Calabasas, who won his first ITF Men’s Circuit singles title last May at the $10,000 event Notable players competing in qualifying include: in Morelia, Mexico. Meister also won an ITF Circuit doubles title in 2013 in Mexico for the eighth professional doubles title of his career. Sekou Bangoura, who won the first USTA Pro Circuit tournament of He graduated from UCLA in 2012 after a standout NCAA tennis 2014, the $10,000 Futures in Plantation, Fla.—Bangoura’s second career. Also that year, he reached the singles and mixed doubles finals career USTA Pro Circuit singles title, after winning the $10,000 of the US Open National Playoffs. This year, he reached the doubles Futures in Niceville, Fla., in 2013. Bangoura also holds two USTA Pro final of the $50,000 USTA Pro Circuit Challenger in Maui, Hawaii, Circuit doubles titles and reached the semifinals or better in the last with fellow former Bruin Daniel Kosakowski. five doubles events he played in 2013. Bangoura was named a doubles All-American during his sophomore year at the University of Florida, Mitchell Krueger, who was the top-ranked U.S. male junior in 2012, after reaching the doubles semifinals of the 2011 NCAA tournament. peaking at a career-high No. 5 in the world junior rankings. Krueger advanced to the semifinals of the boys’ singles at the French Open Jeff Dadamo, who earned a wild card into the 2013 US Open and Wimbledon in 2012 and turned pro that July. Krueger captured Qualifying Tournament by winning the US Open National Playoffs his first pro singles title last year while competing overseas at a men’s title (out of 649 men who competed). Dadamo has won two clay-court ITF Men’s Circuit event in the Netherlands. He competed USTA Pro Circuit doubles titles thus far in his career. He graduated in primarily in Australia for the first two months of 2014. 2011 from Texas A&M, where he won the NCAA men’s doubles title with Austin Krajicek. Dadamo is competing in his first tournament of Evan King, a 2013 graduate of the University of Michigan, who was 2014 in Calabasas. a three-time All-American (2011-13) and the Big Ten Athlete of the Year in 2012 and 2013. King owns the program record for most Dennis Novikov, who was the 2012 USTA Boys’ 18s national champion combined singles and doubles wins (196), and he ranks third all-time in singles and doubles. Those victories earned him wild-card entries on Michigan’s singles wins list with 117 victories. In the pro ranks, into the men’s singles and doubles main draw at the 2012 US Open, King captured three doubles titles on the USTA Pro Circuit and in where he became the second USTA Boys’ 18s champ in 15 years Canada. He has started the 2014 season strong, qualifying for and to advance to the second round in singles. Novikov completed his advancing to the singles quarterfinals at the $100,000 Challenger in sophomore year at UCLA in spring 2013 and turned pro that summer. Dallas and reaching the semifinals or better at four USTA Pro Circuit He won his first USTA Pro Circuit title in June 2013 at the $10,000 doubles events, winning the title in Sunrise, Fla. Futures in Amelia Island, Fla. Born in Moscow, Novikov moved with his family to the United States at 1 year old and eventually chose tennis Former University of Michigan standout Jason Jung, who won his over hockey, swimming and gymnastics. second professional singles title last summer, at the $10,000 Futures in Edwardsville, Ill. This year, he reached back-to-back doubles finals Five-time University of Florida All-American Greg Ouellette, who at the $10,000 Futures in Sunrise, Fla., and Weston, Fla., capturing won the bronze medal in doubles at the 2011 Pan Am Games with the title in Sunrise. In September 2013, Jung reached the singles Nicholas Monroe. Ouellette holds two USTA Pro Circuit singles titles final at an ITF Men’s Circuit event in Canada and, the following week, and four doubles titles, with his last crown coming in 2012. won a doubles title at another Canada event. Jung spent most of last spring and fall competing overseas in ITF Circuit events in Korea and Devin McCarthy, who played for Ohio State and has received All-Big China, where he won one doubles title and reached one singles final Ten honors.