May 15, 2014
THE FLATS – Former Georgia Tech All-American Kevin King captured his second straight ITF Futures singles title in Mexico last weekend, and this time also added the doubles championship with former Yellow Jacket teammate Dean O’Brien.
King, a two-time All-American in 2011 and 2012 from Peachtree City, Ga., had won a singles title in Cordoba a week earlier. This time, he captured the Abierto Internacional de Tenis Varonil Berimbau 2014 F3 Futures event in Mexico City for his second pro singles title and improved his ATP world ranking to 390.
The No. 8 seed, King routed seventh-seeded Christopher Diaz-Figueroa of Guatemala, 6-1, 6-2, in the championship match after taking a 6-3, 6-2 win over O’Brien in the semi-finals. O’Brien, who played at Tech from 2010-11, had reached the semi-finals by taking down top-seeded Niclas Meister of the United States and the No. 6 seed, Maximiliano Estevez.
King and O’Brien had reached the finals in Cordoba and were seeded No. 3 last weekend in Mexico City. They won their first two matches in straight sets before defeating the top-seeded and homestanding Cesar Ramirez and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela of Mexico, 6-3, 6-7, 1-0 (10-8) in the semi-finals. The Tech duo then took a 6-4, 6-4 win in the championship match over Alex Llompart of Puerto Rico and Mateo Nicolas Martinez of Argentina.
King’s ATP doubles ranking rose to 133 with the title, while O’Brien rose to 384.