Little Rock in Perspective

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- After his 6-4, 6-3 loss to Artem Sitak in the finals of the St. Vincent Auxiliary Men's Professional Tennis Tournament, Matt Roberts said, "He was solid. He was on his game for sure. I haven't played anyone this week that patient."

He had not played anyone like Sitak all week. A little known fact is that many of the players on the Futures circuit were invited to bigger tournaments like the ones in Tallahassee, Florida, and Mexico. The players that Roberts ran through on the way to the final were not accustomed to playing this deep in the tournament.

As an example, Julio Peralta, whom Roberts beat in the semifinal, never made it to the main draw of the recent Mobile Futures having been knocked out in the first round of the qualifying round.

Adam El Mihdawy, whom Roberts beat in the quarterfinal, got knocked out in the second round of Mobile.

In contrast, Sitak lost to the eventual winner in Mobile and received extensive praise from the champion Travis Rettenmaier. Sitak also won a Futures this year in McAllen, Texas.