USTA Pro Circuit Men’s Futures Returns To Laguna Niguel

Written by: Staff on 25th September 2011

USTA Pro Circuit Men's Futures Returns To Laguna Niguel

Ryan Harrison of the US hits a return to Marin Cilic of Croatia during their first round match on the first day of the 2011 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA 29 August 2011. The US Open runs through 11 September 2011. EPA/JASON SZENES |

USTA PRO CIRCUIT MEN’S FUTURES RETURNS TO LAGUNA NIGUEL

The USTA Futures of Laguna Niguel is back on the USTA Pro Circuit calendar after a one-year hiatus. The city hosted a Futures event from 1999 through 2009. It is the last of three consecutive USTA Pro Circuit Futures events held in California following the US Open.

This year’s tournament is expected to feature former world No. 2 junior Brian Baker, whose promising career has been hampered by three hip operations and elbow surgery. Inactive from 2008 through 2010, the 26-year-old returned to the USTA Pro Circuit in July, winning eight matches to clinch the Pittsburgh Futures singles title as a qualifier. During his junior career, Baker defeated five current or former Top 10 pros: Gael Monfils, Tomas Berdych, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Stanislas Wawrinka and Marcos Baghdatis.

Also expected to compete in Laguna Niguel is University of Tennessee graduate John- Patrick Smith of Australia, who beat out the likes of Heisman Trophy winner and NFL No. 1 draft pick Cam Newton to win the 2011 SEC Male Athlete of the Year award. An ITA All-American in singles and doubles all four years he played at Tennessee, Smith reached the 2008 NCAA Division I singles final and the 2009 and 2010 NCAA Division I doubles finals. He won his first pro singles title in July as a qualifier at the USTA Pro Circuit Futures event in Tulsa, Okla.

American teen Ryan Harrison broke into the Top 70 this summer after reaching the semifinals of two Olympus US Open Series events.

Also expected in the main draw are: 19-year-old American Denis Kudla, the 2010 US Open boys’ singles runner-up who reached his first ATP World Tour quarterfinal at the grass-court event in Newport, R.I., in July; former world No. 88 Roko Karanusic of Croatia, who has won three ATP Challenger Tour titles in his career and reached the second round of a Grand Slam tournament four times, most recently at the 2009 Australian Open; Artem Sitak of New Zealand, who defeated two-time Olympic gold medalist Nicolas Massu to qualify for the Olympus US Open Series event at Washington this August; and Belarusian Davis Cup player Siarhei Betau, who won three medals for his country at the 2011 World University Games in Shenzhen, China.

Among the players scheduled to compete in qualifying are: 18-year-old Sean Berman, who reached the final of the 2010

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