Laguna Niguel Futures and Napa Valley Challenger Recap

UCLA Junior Marcos Giron is going to have a load of confidence going into the ITA All-American Championships at Tulsa this week as he won his 3rd futures title in 3 weeks (2 singles and 1 doubles) at Laguna Niguel. Giron defeated last year NCAA Singles Runner-Up (and doubles champion) Jarmere Jenkins in the final 4-6, 6-1, 6-1. Noah Rubin broke through to the semifinals and USC freshman Connor Farren reached his 2nd straight futures quarterfinal.

Here are the junior players and college players that played at Laguna Niguel:
Trevor Johnson (USA): Lost in 1st round to Daniel Nguyen 7-6, 6-2
David Saofer (Pepperdine Waves): Lost in 2nd round to Jarmere Jenkins 6-2, 6-3.
Alex Sarkissian (Pepperdine Waves): Lost in 1st round to Saofer 3-6, 7-6, 6-3
Connor Farren (USC Trojans): Lost in quarterfinals to Jenkins 2-6, 6-4, 6-2
Noah Rubin (USA): Lost in semifinals to Marcos Giron 6-4, 6-3
Clay Thompson (UCLA Bruins): Lost in 1st Round to Cesar Ramirez 7-5, 6-2
Ray Sarmiento (USC Trojans): Lost in 1st Round to Yoshihito Nishoika 7-6, 6-2
Yoshihito Nishoika (JPN): Lost in 2nd Round to Ramirez 7-6, 6-0
William Griffith (USA): Lost first round to O Matthews 6-3, 7-5
Marcos Giron (UCLA Bruins): Champion

Nishoika teamed with Alan Nunez-Aguilera (MEX) to win the doubles title by defeating 2 seeds Crowley (RSA) and Vijayragavan (IND) in the finals 6-4, 6-2.

In Napa Valley, 8 seeded Donald Young took his 2nd singles Challenger title of the year by defeated Matthew Ebden of Australia in the final 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. Former USC Trojan Steve Johnson was the only seeded player who did not advance to the quarterfinals (7 seed) after losing to Michael Venus (NZL) in the first round.

Here are the junior players and college players that played at Laguna Niguel:
Ben McLachlan (California Bears): Lost 1st Round to Alex Kuznetsov 6-1, 6-4.
Collin Altamirano (USA): Lost 1st Round to Rhyne Williams 6-2, 6-2.
Thanasi Kokkinakis (AUS): Won 1st Round over Jesse Witten 6-3, 4-6, 7-6
                                              Lost 2nd Round to Bradley Klahn 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
Kokkinakis teamed up with Benjamin Mitchell and lost in the semifinals.

The team they lost to was Bobby Reynolds (USA) and John-Patrick Smith (AUS) who defeated Steve Johnson (USA) and Tim Smyczek (USA) in the finals to take the doubles crown. The two will not be playing the Sacramento Challenger as a team, but rather with different partners.

Fry That Chicken