Carsten Ball Comes Up Short

Carsten Ball at Texas 76ers, photo by Tessa Kolodny

Carsten Ball came up short in the finals of the Baton Rouge Pro Classic in Louisiana Sunday. Ball lost to the number one seed Izak Van Der Merwe 2-6, 6-7 (4).

Just a week ago, Ball lost in the finals of the Texas 76ers Pro Tennis Event in Mansfield, Texas. Ball was quite busy: he was also in the doubles final with partner Rylan Rizza. Brian and Dann Battistone defeated Ball and Rizza 6-4, 7-6 (3).

Ball and Rizza were the number-one ranked doubles team in the tournament.

These tournaments are part of the futures series of the United States Tennis Association. The players head to Hawaii for two more tournaments.

Check in regularly at The Tennis Hacker to find out how these players are doing. No newspaper or no other website is publishing regularly about the tennis news you care about.

Rylan Rizza, photo by Tessa Kolodny

Michael McClune Falls in Baton Rouge

Photo, Michael McClune at Texas 76ers, by Tessa Kolodny

Michael McClune had the misfortune of playing against the number one player in the Baton Rouge Pro Classic. It ended badly for McClune.

Izak Van Der Merwe of Kempton Park, South Africa, beat McClune 7-5, 6-3 in the quarterfinals at Lamar Tennis Center at the Paula G. Manship YMCA. McClune had barely celebrated a victory at the Texas 76ers Pro Tennis Classic a week earlier.

Carsten Ball, the runner-up to McClune at the Texas 76ers tournament in Mansfield, Texas, is still alive in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Ball defeated Chase Buchanan 6-2, 6-3.

Uladzimir Ignatik, a former French Open junior champion, knocked off Alexei Grigorov 6-4, 4-6, 6-3. Ignatik and Grigorov, who both played at the Texas 76ers tournament, are like teammates; both are members of John Roddick Total Tennis Academy in San Antonio, Texas.