Matt Roberts is back, this year ranked 539 in the world down from his 2007 year end ranking of 1,023. This may be the last year we get to see him in a Futures level event if his success continues. Matt lost to the #1 seed Artem Sitak (RUS) last year in the finals and is returning to see if he can finish what he started last year, and what his hometown crowd hopes he will do. It won’t be easy as two other players who also lost to Artem last year are back as well. Todd Paul (USA) who lost to Artem in the quarterfinals has improved his ranking from 793 to 532 and is returning to Little Rock. Marcus Fugate (USA) who lost to Artem in two close tiebreak sets in the semi-finals after working his way through the qualifying tournament. His ranking is down from 836 to 589 and he’ll enter the main draw with fresh legs this year. Marcus became a crowd favorite, playing in the junior Pro-Am and earning a lot of fans with his great tennis and his attitude on and off the court.

Matt is not the only former Arkansas Razorback in the main draw this year. Adrians Zguns (LAT) who was the #1 singles player for the Hogs a few years ago is in the main draw with a ranking of 700. He plays Davis Cup for Latvia and recently beat #134 ranked Chris Guccione at an ATP Qualifier. We are in for some exciting tennis.

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