EDWARDSVILLE – Chris Haworth is heading to the main draw of the USTA Pro Circuit Edwardsville Futures tournament next week.
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Haworth, of Oklahoma City who played collegiately at Oklahoma State, won his way to the main draw by defeating Sam Shropshire of Philadelphia, a recent Northwestern graduate, 6-2, 6-2 in the Thursday morning's final of the Edwardsville Futures Pro Wildcard Challenge Presented by THEBANK of Edwardsville at the Edwardsville High Tennis Center.
Shropshire, along with semifinalists Toby Boyer and Nicholas Shamma, won wildcard spots in this weekend's qualifying tournament for the main draw; play in that tournament gets under way Saturday morning and runs through Monday, with the first round of singles and doubles competition commencing Tuesday morning.
“This place was buzzing today – buzzing on the court, buzzing in the stands – it's great,” said EHS tennis coach and tournament director Dave Lipe. “We had ball kids out there today; it added another dimension. We had a USTA official out there in the (umpire's) chair that added a certain element to it – it looked like a professional match the way these two guys were out there banging the ball out there.
“We're super-fortunate to have THEBANK of Edwardsville be our presenting sponsor for this; it's really important, the support they gave – it's a great event. There were people in the stands watching and the ball kids getting their last official practice for the quarterfinals of our main draw and we're proud to present the wild card to the main draw to Chris Haworth, who had a great week.”
Shropshire got out to an early lead in both sets before Haworth took control, winning several games in a row to put him in the driver's seat in both sets. Haworth won several big points in both sets to get him into position for the win and went on to take the victory.
“I thought I played really well,” Haworth said. “I thought it was a lot closer than that, but he played well and I thought I just came up with the big points, I think; everything was clicking for me. I thought I hit my forehand really well; usually, that' the weaker of my shots – everything was going well.”
“Chris played well today,” Shropshire said, “pretty solid and everything. I tried a couple of different things to get him a little bit, but it didn't work out today, so congrats to him and I hope he does well in the main draw.”
Having a second chance to reach the main draw was a good thing, Shropshire thought. “I've got one more crack at the main draw starting on Saturday – I'm excited for that.”
VIDEOS FROM THE WILDCARD EVENT:
