PALM VALLEY — No Cowboys? No problem. At least not when there’s world-class professional tennis in town.
With the Dallas Cowboys on a bye this weekend, sports fans flocked to the 2016 Harlingen Country Club Men’s Futures Tournament and got to see Dominik Koepfer of Germany win the singles championship.
Koepfer earned the crown after beating No. 6 seed Luke Bambridge of Great Britain in straight sets 6-4, 6-4.
Koepfer, who is ranked No. 906th in the world by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), used a powerful service game to blast past the 6-foot-3 Bambridge, who is ranked 266th in the world.
In the first set, the two traded punches with one another and were tied 4-4 until Koepfer broke Bambridge’s serve to take the 5-4 advantage. With momentum on his side, the quick-footed lefty then served for the set, which he won on a blistering ace that whizzed by Bambridge before he could even get his racket up.
The second set was pretty much a mirror image of the first as Koepfer kept the pressure up and continued to break Bambridge’s serve en route to the straight-set sweep and tournament title.
Koepfer’s journey through the six-day event started with a 7-6 (4), 6-3 win over Julian Cash of Great Britain in the opening round. He then defeated American Collin Johns in the second round in a tough 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 match before downing Jared Hiltzik of the United States in the quarterfinals in another three-setter 6-2, 3-6, 6-1. He advanced to Sunday’s finals by beating G. Delgado Nuez of Spain on Saturday 6-3, 6-0.
While the day ended on a sour note for Bambridge in the singles championship, the Brit came out later in the afternoon and won the doubles title along with partner Even King of the United States.
The duo, which was the top-seeded doubles team in the tournament, beat John McNally and Even Zhu 6-4, 6-4.
