16th ANNUAL POMONA VALLEY HOSPITAL MEDICAL CENTER USTA PRO CLASSIC

Written by: Staff on 16th September 2011

16th ANNUAL POMONA VALLEY HOSPITAL MEDICAL CENTER USTA PRO CLASSIC |

A 30-year-old who grew up at the same tennis club as Novak Djokovic in Belgrade, Serbia, and a 17-year-old who splits his time between Northern California and Florida moved into the quarterfinals on Thursday at the 16th annual Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center USTA $10,000 Pro Classic being played at the Claremont Club.

Vladimir Obradovic, the No. 4 seeded player from the Partizan Tennis Club in Belgrade where he trained with a younger Djokovic, beat Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo’s Andre Dome, 7-5, 7-5. The youngest player left in the draw, American Dennis Novikov, had to rally for his 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-3 upset over No. 3 seeded Mark Verryth of Australia.

“I’ve had some good results and am playing well,” said Novikov, who lost in the first round of the recent US Open Juniors to the No. 4 seeded player.

Novikov, who played all four Grand Slam junior events this year, said he is still deciding on a college to play at next year but plans to enroll in January. He is considering USC, Florida and Ohio State. The win equaled his career-best and third quarterfinal appearance at an ITF Futures event and he was also a quarterfinalist at the National 18s Hardcourts at Kalamazoo.

Steve Johnson, the top-seeded player from USC, beat former Virginia star Sanam Singh of India, 6-4, 6-3, to advance to the quarterfinals after a tough three-setter in the first round on Wednesday.

Johnson said he feels no pressure being the No. 1 player. “The goal is always to go out and win,” he said. “At the Open it’s to win a round or two but here yeah, it’s to win Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. There’s really no pressure. I mean, it’s a tennis match. I’ve played many bigger and there will be many more bigger in the future.”

After playing three big pro events over the summer, Johnson admitted the atmosphere is a little different in Claremont this week. “This is a beautiful club and everything but just maybe a little bit of a different atmosphere,” he said. “To be in L.A., and then Cincinnati,.and then the U.S. Open. It’s just different. I had the same thing last year. Even though I had the qualies at the Open I came here right afterward and had a letdown (losing to James Duckworth of Australia in the quarterfinals).”

Obradovic teamed with Vignesh Peranamallur of India to advance to Friday’s doubles final. The duo will face No. 4 seeded Alexandre Lacroix of France and Singh.

Thursday’s Second-Round results

Singles

Vladimir Obradovic, Serbia, (4) def. Andre Dome, U.S., 7-5, 7-5

Steve Johnson, U.S. (1), def. Sanam Singh, India, 6-4, 6-3

Darian King, Barbados, def. Marcos Giron, U.S., 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (3)

Dennis Novikov, U.S., def. Mark Verryth, Australia (3), 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-3

Rudolph Siwy, Czech Republic (6), def. Dennis Mrktchian, U.S., 3-6, 6-1, 7-5

Alexandre Lacroix, France (q), def. Mousheg Hovhannisyan, U.S. (wc), 6-4, 6-2

Timothy Kpulun, Sierra Leone (q), def. Terence Nugent, Ivory Coast, 6-0, 6-4

Bassam Beidas, Lebanon (2), def. Thomas Shubert, U.S. (q), 3-6, 6-2, 6-2

Doubles Semifinals

Vladimir Obradovic, Serbia-Vignesh Peranamallur, India, def. Joshua Graves, U.S.-Rudolph Siwy, Czech Republic, 6-4, 7-6 (4)

Alexandre Lacroix, France, def. Sanam Singh, India (4), def. Dennis Mrktchian, U.S.-Dennis Novikov, U.S., 6-0, 6-1

Recent Claremont ChampionsYear Singles Winner Singles Runner-up Doubles Champions2010 Gary Sacks Devin Britton Taylor Fogleman-Chris Kearney2009 Matej Bocko Bradley Klahn Brett Joelson-Ashwin Kumar2008 Tigran Martirosyan Adriano Biasello Marcus Fugate-Nima Roshan 2007 Carsten Ball Robert Yim Nikita Kryvonos-Michael McClune2006 Dudi Sela Sascha Kloer Ryler DeHeart-Dennis Zivkovic2005 Benedikt Dorsch Tyler Cleveland K.C. Corkery-James Pade2004 Bobby Reynolds Huntley Montgomery Nick Rainey-Brian Wilson2003 Glenn Weiner Jimy Szymanski K.C. Corkery-James Pade2002 Dmitry Tursunov Raven Klaasen Chris Magyary-Mirko Pehar Points, Prize Money for $10,000 Futures Tournaments Singles Doubles Points Prize $ Points Prize $Winner 17 $1,300 17 $630Finalist 9 $900 9 $330Semifinalist 5 $480 5 $260Quarterfinalist 2 $290 2 $180Round of 16 1 $200 1 ——Round of 32 0 $117.50 – ——