Kevin King Takes Second Straight Futures Title in Mexico, More Pro Circuit Results

Georgia Tech graduate Kevin King, who graduated in 2012 and is still only 23 years old, won his second consecutive $15,000 Futures tournament in Mexico over the weekend.  King, a left-hander from Peachtree City, Georgia, was seeded No. 8 in the tournament. He defeated former teammate and doubles partner Dean O'Brien of South Africa 6-3, 6-2 in the semifinals and downed No. 7 seed Christopher Diaz-Figueroa of Guatemala 6-1, 6-2 in the final. King, who reached the semifinals of the $10,000 Futures that began this Mexican hard court swing, has risen to a career-high of 370, and will move up again when the points from last week's title are added next week.

King and O'Brien, who had lost in the doubles final in each of the previous two weeks, won it this time, with the No. 3 seeds defeating No. 4 seeds Alex Llompart(Pepperdine) of Puerto Rico and Mateo Martinez of Argentina 6-3, 6-4 in the final.  King, who did not lose a set last week, is playing again this week in Mexico, and unseeded, he has drawn top seed Carlos Salamanca of Colombia in the first round.

Last week in the United States, No. 4 seed Mitchell Krueger reached the final of the $10,000 Futures in Orange Park, Florida, falling to unseeded 19-year-old Nicolas Jarry of Chile 6-1, 7-6(6) in the final.  Jarry had ended Connor Smith's attempt at a second straight Futures title in the semifinals. Smith, the former Ohio State Buckeye, did win the doubles title with Dennis Novikov (UCLA), beating Krueger and Bjorn Fratangelo 6-3, 6-2 in the final. Smith also received a special exemption into the main draw at this week's $10,000 Futures in Tampa.

Krueger is the top seed this week in Tampa, and he plays Stanford recruit Tom Fawcett, who qualified. This is Fawcett's first career Futures; he did play qualifying at the Winnetka Challenger last summer.

Also qualifying were Morgan Mays(Wake Forest) and Tulsa recruit Spencer Papa. Michigan recruit Carter Lin, Duke recruit Martin Redlicki and Patrick Daciek(Virginia Tech) received wild cards.

There are no women's Pro Circuit events in the United States this week. Last week in the Raleigh $25,000 tournament, No. 8 seed Maria Sanchez(Southern Cal) reached the final, losing to No. 5 seed Heidi El Tabakh of Canada 6-3, 6-4.  Connie Hsu(Penn), who used to represent the US, but is now playing under the Taiwan flag, partnered with Alexandra Mueller to win the doubles title. Hsu and Mueller, the No. 2 seeds, defeated  No. 3 seeds Danielle Lao (Southern Cal) and Keri Wong (Clemson) 6-3, 6-3 in the final.

At the $100,000 women's tournament in the Czech Republic, Vicky Duval made it through qualifying, as did Madison Brengle. Melanie Oudin received direct entry into the main draw.

Two-time junior slam winner Ana Konjuh of Croatia returns to competition after surgery at the $50,000 tournament in France, where she will play Allie Kiick in the first round.  Nicole Gibbs(Stanford) is the only other American in the draw.

At a $10,000 men's Futures on clay in Spain this week, Taylor Fritz has qualified for the main draw, with Noah Rubin receiving direct entry and Collin Altamirano the recipient of a wild card.

At the 85,000 Euro ATP Challenger in Bordeaux, France, Steve Johnson(Southern Cal) is the No. 2 seed. Denis Kudla and Ryan Harrison are also in the draw.