April 2008 - Andrei Gorban
By Nick Fishpool |
 | | Andrei Gorban |
24 year old, Andrei Gorban from Moldova is the featured player this month.
Having already played host to the Turkey F1 and F2 Futures tournaments in March, Club Ali Bey Manavgat in Antalya, Turkey was also the venue this month for a further four Futures tournaments.
Andrei, who competed on the clay courts of the Turkey F1 and F2 tournaments, played in all four of this month’s clay court tournaments and the first of the month was to provide Andrei with his first singles title in almost a year. Unseeded, he began his title quest at the Turkey F3 tournament with a 63 61 win over German qualifier Andre Wiesler but then lost the first set of his second round match 61 against Alejandro Kon, the number 8 seed from Argentina and looked to be heading for an early exit from the singles competition. This, however, was not to be the case as Andrei fought back to take the next two sets 63 61. The quarterfinal draw pitted him up against Yannick Mertens from Belgium and Andrei dispatched this opponent in straight sets, 63 62. He next faced Adam Vejmelka and the Czech 5th seed proved to be a tough opponent but Andrei emerged victorious 75 76(2) to take his place in the final against Jamaican Dustin Brown. This final was Andrei’s first appearance in a Futures singles final since his title win on the clay at the Ukraine F2 tournament back in early June 2007. Andrei finished this tournament just as he started it by recording a 63 61 win to claim the third Futures singles title of his career. Andrei also entered into the doubles event and was partnered by Ivan Sergeyev from Ukraine; together they were seeded 4 and lost in the quarterfinal to the eventual champions.
After a one-week break, the Turkey Futures series re-commenced with Andrei looking to add another title to his name, this time as a seeded player. Andrei was named as the 8th seed and started with a win over a qualifier, just as he had done in his previous tournament. This time it was an Austrian qualifier, Kristopher Sotiriu, and Andrei dropped just two games, winning 61 61. Up next was a Dutch player, Fred Hemmes. Andrei won a closely fought match, coming from a set down he won 57 75 64. Turkish top seed, Marsel Ilhan, was then defeated in the quarterfinal 63 62 and Andrei remained on course for a second title this month. Standing in his way of another final appearance was the third seed, Gabriel Moraru from Romania. The first set went to a tiebreak and was won 7-5 by Gabriel but Andrei wasted little time in levelling the match as he took the second set with the loss of just one game. With the match level at one set all and a place in the final at stake both players fought hard and, unfortunately for Andrei, it was Gabriel who took the final set 75 and with it a place in the final. Andrei could console himself with the knowledge that Gabriel then went on to win the final.
Turkey F5 almost turned into a disaster for Andrei. Having lost the opening set of the first round to German David Klier, Andrei, once again seeded 8, then found himself in a second set tie breaker. Fortunately he came through this, winning 7-5 and then found himself in another tiebreak situation in the deciding set. Again Andrei won the tiebreak, this time 7-3 and could breath a huge sigh of relief. The second round was not to prove as tough as Andrei defeated Maxime Authom 61 62. Andrei followed this win with successive 63 64 victories in the quarterfinal and semi final against Dusan Karol and Karim Maamoun respectively. The final brought about another meeting with Marsel Ilhan who again was seeded number 1 just as he was in their previous encounter at the quarter final stage the previous week. Andre again defeated Marsel, this time 64 16 60, to win his second Futures singles title of the month.
Andrei finished the month as the third seed in the Turkey F6 tournament. Turkish wildcard, Haluk Akkoyun, was beaten 63 62 in the first round. This was followed by a three set win over Slovakian qualifier, Adrian Sikora. Andrei then faced the 6th seed, Attila Balazs and the Hungarian ended Andrei’s run in this event with 64 61 victory.
Andrei’s two singles titles this month increases his career Futures singles titles count to 4 titles from 5 finals. In doubles, his record is 1 title from 2 finals. When the ATP singles rankings were released on May 5th 2008, Andrei was ranked at 429, his highest singles ranking of his career to date. Andrei also played Davis Cup for Moldova from 2000-2004 and, after a 4-year absence, has once again been selected for the 2008 Moldovan Davis Cup squad for their matches in May.
^ Back to Top
|
