At the picturesque Oakwood Country Club in Lynchburg, Virginia, last weekend, Martin Sayer (Radford) beat top-seeded touring pro and 2006 champion, Brett Ross, in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, to win the USTA-sanctioned US$12,000 Genworth Financial CVITT men's open singles title.

After conceding an early break to Ross, who last played for Wake Forest two years ago, Martin reeled off six games in a row from 3-2 down in the opening set to stamp his authority over the final.

Martin, who celebrated his 21st birthday on June 20, then added an insurance break late to complete a workmanlike, 6-3, 6-2, victory.

Although holding a current ATP Ranking of No. 1288 in singles and No. 708 in doubles, Ross did peak at No. 691 and No. 461 respectively last July.

In the semifinals, Ross defeated Albert Larregola (Virginia Tech), who was runner-up to Dominic Inglot (Virginia) at the Wilson/ITA Mideast Regional Championships last October and finished this past season ranked No. 44 in the nation.

Martin was slated to face-off with No. 2 seed Treat Huey in the other semifinal but the Virginia grad conceded a walkover due to injury. Huey was named a doubles All-American by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association and finished this past season ranked 33rd in NCAA singles.

Earlier in the quarterfinals, Martin saw off No. 4 seed Ted Angelinos of Greece who was ranked as high as No. 775 in the world in singles several seasons back.

Angelinos, a senior at Virginia, also lost to the Radford number one in the round of 32 at last October's Wilson/ITA Mideast Regional Championships in straight sets, 7-6(2), 6-2.

Also in the men's draw at Oakwood was seventh-seeded Jason Pinsky, who was University of Pennsylvania's No. 1 singles player and a three-time unanimous first-team All-Ivy League selection.

However, aside from deducting expenses incurred for the week, Martin declined the remainder of the US$2,000 worth winner's cheque in order to maintain his amateur status as a collegiate player.

The last player from Hong Kong to reach a men's singles final on the pro circuit was in all probability Sven Koehler, who did so in Week 3 of the Japan 1 Satellite back in July 1997 when he beat Kentaro Matsuda, 6-3, 0-6, 7-6, in the semifinals before he went down against No. 1 seed Jean-Francois Bachelot of France in the final.

Koehler's ranking subsequently catapulted 520 places from No. 1338 to No. 818.

Former Hong Kong resident, Michael Walker, who played Davis Cup for the territory from 1991-94, won Week Two of the Philippines Satellite back in 1992 when he beat Carlos Gomez-Diaz of Argentina, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6, in the final.

In the semifinals that week in Butuan City, Walker beat Swiss qualifier Patrick Mohr, who had upset top seed Felix Barrientos in round one, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4; while Gomez-Diaz beat No. 4 seed Yasufumi Yamamoto of Japan, 6-1, 7-5, in the other final four match-up.

The most recent player from the territory to capture a pro circuit title in men's doubles was Yu Hiu Tung, who teamed up with Chinese Taipei's Lee Hsin-Han to win the men's doubles at the Indonesia F2 Futures in Jakarta back in August 2006.

Prior to that, former full-time touring pro, John Hui, who reached a career-best No. 157 (on 12 Aug 2002) in the world in men's doubles, won the Hong Kong F2 Futures with Anthony Ross in 2001 and the Japan F4 Futures with Lu Yen-Hsun in 2002.

In addition, the ex-Hong Kong Davis Cupper has reached four other Futures finals and back-to-back Challenger finals at Manchester and Hilversum in the summer of 2002 when he lost hard-fought title deciders both times to Pakistan's perennial No. 1, Aisam Qureshi.

Qureshi, who was back on Davis Cup duty this year, has propelled Pakistan to a swift return to Asia/Oceania Zone Group II for 2009, thereby joining the likes of Hong Kong, Indonesia, Kuwait, Malaysia, Oman, plus the losing nations from the China-New Zealand Group II Final and the Kazakhstan-Philippines Group I Relegation Playoff scheduled for September.

As of this week, Qureshi is ranked No. 158 in singles and No. 73 in doubles.

Results
US$12,000 Genworth Financial CVITT(2)
Oakwood Country Club, Virginia
12-15 June 2008

MEN'S OPEN SINGLES

First Round
(6)Martin Sayer (Radford) d. David E. Hopkins (USA) 6-3 6-0

Second Round
(6)Martin Sayer (Radford) d. Rob Oakes (USA) 6-0 6-0

Quarterfinals
(6)Martin Sayer (Radford) d. (4)Ted Angelinos (GRE) 7-6(4) 6-4

Semifinals
(6)Martin Sayer (Radford) d. (2)Treat Huey (USA) - w/o

Final
(6)Martin Sayer (Radford) d. (1)Brett Ross (USA) 6-3 6-2

Sources
www.ruhighlanders.com
www.nrvsports.com
www.newsadvance.com