GODFREY – It will be an all-American showdown in Sunday’s doubles and singles championship matches of the 16th Annual Lewis and Clark Community College Men’s Pro Circuit Futures $10K tournament.
The Doubles Championship begins at 10 a.m. with No. 3 Evan King, a 2013 Michigan graduate, and Peter Kobelt, Ohio State junior, playing UCLA’s Marcos Giron and Devin McCarthy, a 2013 Ohio State graduate.
King is a three-time ITA All-American (2011-13), two-time Big Ten Athlete of the Year (2012 and 2013), four-time All-Big Ten (2010-13), and ITA Midwest Region Senior of the Year (2013.) He finished the season at No. 12 in the NCAA ITA singles rankings and No. 48 doubles ranking with Shaun Bernstein.
Kobelt is a two-time USTA/ITA Midwest Region Doubles Champion (2010 and 2011), a 2012 First Team All-Big Ten, 2012 Academic All-Big Ten, and three-time Ohio State Scholar-Athlete. He finished this past Season at Ohio ranked No. 7 in singles and No. 11 in doubles with partner Connor Smith.
He currently is competing in the qualifying rounds of the Decatur Futures, and is driving back to Lewis and Clark for his doubles round.
Giron, an All-American, ended the 2012-13 UCLA season with an NCAA ITA singles ranking of No. 13 and doubles ranking of No. 20 with partner Dennis Novikov. He earned the 2011-12 season honorable mention All-Pac-12 accolades, tied for the second-most singles wins on the team—ending the 2011-12 season with a 27-7 overall record.
“This is the first time Devin and I have played doubles before and so far so good. We just want to get the win and have fun,” Giron said.
McCarthy was a 2011 and 2012 Second Team All-Big Ten recipient, a 2010, 2011 and 2012 Academic All-Big Ten honoree, and four-time Ohio State Scholar Athlete recipient. He finished at Ohio with a No. 60 NCAA ITA ranking in singles and No. 70 in doubles with partner Ille Van Engelen.
“Marcos and I are competitive and have fun too. Peter is my friend and former Ohio teammate. He and Evan are great players so it should be competitive.”
In the Singles Championship it is west meets east as No. 4 Michael Shabaz, of Southern California, plays Noah Rubin, of Long Island, following the doubles final.
Shabaz defeated No. 1 Darian King, of Barbados, Saturday 6-1, 6-2. Rubin defeated Evan King 6-3, 6-3.
Shabaz, 25, won his first USTA Pro Circuit singles title at the $10,000 Futures in Pittsburgh in early July.
A former University of Virginia player, Shabaz reached the singles semis in the 2011 NCAA Championships. In 2010, he won the NCAA doubles title with Drew Courtney. As a junior player, he won the Wimbledon doubles title in 2005 with Jesse Levine.
Rubin, 17, played in this year’s Wimbledon Juniors singles and doubles, was America’s top junior to begin 2013—having ascended as high as No. 6 in the world in January.
A pupil of John McEnroe’s Academy at Randalls Island, N.Y., he reached the quarterfinals at the 2012 French Open Junior Championships and has represented the U.S. in the Junior Davis Cup (16 and under.)
Coach Sinisa Markovic said he was pleased with Rubin’s performance on the court against King Saturday.
“He is playing well and on a streak,” said Markovic. “We like the courts and facilities here. The people have been very nice and supportive and it was good to see crowds in the stands come out and watch today.”
The Doubles Championship will begin at 10 a.m. at the Andy Simpson Tennis Complex, followed by the Singles Championship.
The tournament is free and open to the public. For more information call (618) 468-6252.