Boca Raton residents set to clash in Mardy Fish Tennis Championship final
VERO BEACH – Just four years ago Ryan Dickerson and Will Grant were sitting next to each other raucously cheering for their respective college teams as Baylor University took on the University of Florida in the 2021 NCAA championship final match.
Of course, the Gators with a young Ben Shelton playing at No. 5 (now ranked 13th in the world and coming off a finals berth in the Munich ATP 500), defeated the Bears for their first and only tennis title at the USTA National Campus in Orlando where they enjoyed a huge hometown advantage.
Fast forward to a sun-splashed Saturday afternoon at the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships, and there was Dickerson and Grant once again on opposite sides, only this time it was in the semifinals of a $ 15,000 ITF-USTA Pro Circuit event at the Vero Beach Tennis and Fitness Club.
Once again the Gator feasted on the Bear as the seventh-seeded Grant ended a dubious streak of eight straight losses in semifinal matches in a hard-hitting 6-3, 6-2 victory over Dickerson, who was competing in his first ITF pro semifinal since ending a six-year collegiate run at Duke and Baylor in 2022.
“Luckily it was in Orlando, so we had the crowd on our side there,’’ recalled the 692nd-ranked Grant, who lost his doubles match in that NCAA final of Florida’s 4-1 victory. “I definitely remember hearing Ryan there; he was getting Baylor fired up but that went our way.”
Grant, 24, also remembers one of his three early-career ITF final berths since turning pro full-time in 2023 when he defeated Dickerson 7-5, 6-1 in the round of 16 in Albuquerque, despite trailing 0-4 in the first set.
That wasn’t the case Saturday as Grant took early 3-1 leads in both sets and never trailed afterwards. The key to Grant’s domination was his uncanny bullet return of serves which invariably landed by Dickerson’s toes which immediately gave the Californian to Boca Raton transplant a commanding edge in the rallies.
“His depth in general,’’ said the 27-year-old Dickerson, who’s ranked 1298 and actually didn’t make the lineup in the aforementioned collegiate final. “It was tough to get a rhythm when you land the ball so deep because I got to go half-swings and tough bounces and stuff but he’s a great returner in general… I tried to compete as best as I could but he’s a tricky player and made it uncomfortable.”
The muscular 6-2 Dickerson, who was wearing his trademark tight black shirt, exits with his head held high after coming through qualifiers, and has a lot to look forward to, as the Marlton, N.J., native recently got engaged to Izzy Dasilva.
“It’s freeing because I feel like I’m performing better because my life [is more stable],’’ said Dickerson, who won five silver balls in his junior career.
Grant is anxious to win that elusive first ITF pro title after two more semifinal finishes last month in Tunisia and Spain, as well as the semis here last year where he lost to eventual champion Garrett Johns of Duke fame. He lost two of his finals to Liam Draxl, now ranked 156th and a Vero Beach semifinalist in 2022.
“I just tried to treat today like any other match,’’ said Grant, continuing his solid defense in dodging the negative semifinal streak. “When you’re out there you’re not thinking if it’s the semis, a final or even the qualies; you’re just trying your best. … I’m not trying to lose tomorrow, that’s for sure.”
Grant will play unseeded Blu Baker, who utilized an all-court attack to overwhelm unseeded Tomas Luis of Portugal, 6-4, 6-1, in Sunday’s 1 p.m. final.
“It was me not getting into the game at all. I just didn’t play today,’’ said the 956-ranked 5-11 Luis, who played four years at Belmont University in Nashville. “Maybe I was nervous but I wasn’t myself the entire match.”
Baker, 23, a native of Portsmouth, U.K., now living in Boca Raton, grew up attending Wimbledon with his father/coach Kevin and actually played Junior Wimbledon twice. He started slowly but at 3-3 and facing two break points, tightened his defense to hold.
With the 23-year-old Luis serving at 4-5, the 6-foot-3 Baker amped up his return game, cracking one off the corner of the baseline and then ripped a backhand howitzer down the line to achieve the critical break and first set.
From there, it was smooth sailing as Baker converted 2-of-2 break points and gave Luis hardly any free points while overpowering his smaller opponent with his forehand.
“I think that [hold] was a turning point in the first set,’’ said Baker, who has won a record 13 Battle of Boca UTR tournaments at Rick Macci’s Tennis and Fitness Center in Boca Raton. “When I had the opportunities, I took them.”
Baker, who has one ITF $ 15K title (in Boca Raton in 2022), reached a career-high 512 in 2023 but dropped to 1068 due to elbow surgery and about 18 months of various injuries and ailments. He tore his right hamstring, had four wisdom teeth removed, ruptured his eardrum and contracted mononucleosis.
“I was back to square one,’’ Baker said. “I’ve been there, and I’ve played those guys and played Challengers, and been in finals and semis, so it’s not new to me. I have a lot of built-up anger in me and just want to go out there and do the best I can. … It’s going to be a dogfight regardless. Whoever wins this match will bring it tomorrow and it will be a battle.”
Baker is certainly used to battles.
American teens fall in doubles final
Wild card entrants Jack Kennedy and Keaton Hance, two of America’s best junior players, led 5-4 in the second set of their doubles final before nerves and lack of experience kicked, leading to a 6-2, 7-5 loss to the veteran tandem of Jesse Flores and Peter Bertran, the third seeds from Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic respectively.
Hance, 17, who grew up in Torrance, Calif., where his parents, Courtney and Ken, have owned a tennis academy at the South Bay Tennis Center since he was born, had displayed amazing hands at the net all week, but at 5-5, butchered two short overheads.
Kennedy, 16, followed that with a rare double fault before smacking a forehand into the net for the critical break.
Flores, 30, who won his fourth ITF doubles title, including a $ 25K in D.R., last month, then served out the match but not before frittering away three match points. However, his trademark 140-mph serve induced a return error by Kennedy to wrap up Bertran’s fourth ITF pro title, and second in Vero Beach (2023).
The 30-year-old Bertran, who’s ranked 535th in doubles and trains in Tampa at Saddlebrook Academy, is one of three players to win two doubles titles here, joining David Witt, the former coach of Serena Williams and currently Frances Tiafoe’s coach, and Junior Ore.
“It was our first time playing together and the chemistry was effortless,’’ Flores said. “Keaton and Jack are studs and have a bright future together and I wish them the best in the upcoming European tour and even Orange Park [next week].”
After the trophy ceremony Kennedy, a resident of Long Island, N.Y., and Hance went to an adjacent court to practice overheads.
“It was me, rough points for me; it was just me,’’ admitted Hance, who earned his first ATP ranking points in singles and doubles. “I wasn’t feeling it during warmup but thought it would come around in the match which it did sometimes but those two moments it didn’t come through.”
Hance’s older sister Kimmi, a former standout at UCLA, was ranked 1138 in the WTA.
Kennedy said they were both proud of themselves.
“We can’t get down on ourselves,’’ Kennedy said. “We had a great week. We came in this tournament as wild cards and a lot of people weren’t expecting us to get this far. It’s only our first pro event so we’re trying to see the level, just play our game and play free, having fun out there.”
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: William Grant, Blu Baker to meet in Mardy Fish Tennis Championship final
