June 4, 2014
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IOWA CITY, Iowa — Incoming tennis recruit Stieg Martens qualified for his first professional tournament over the weekend when he made the main draw of the ITF Pro Circuit Futures 1 tournament in Damme, Belgium. Martens earned his first ever main draw berth after winning a pair of qualifying matches.
Martens opened the qualifying draw facing Edward Elliott from the United States. Martens, a native of Roeselare, Belgium, dropped the first set, 5-7, before taking the next two sets, and the match, 6-1, 7-6 (9-7). In the second round, Martens drew fellow Belgian Benjamin Dhoe. Martens cruised to the main draw of his first professional tournament ever with a 6-3, 6-3 victory. In the opening round of the main draw, Martens fell to Yannick Vandenbulke of Belgium, 6-1, 6-3. Yannick is currently ranked No. 682 in the ATP world rankings with a career high ranking of No. 470.
The Futures 1 tournament is the first of 13 ITF Pro Circuit Futures that will be played throughout Belgium this summer. Every match won in the main draw will earn an ATP point which goes towards a world ranking. Martens plans to play in five more Futures tournaments over the course of the summer before coming to Iowa City.