Source: ITFtennis.com
Our featured male player for the month is the Russian teenager Roman Safiullin.
The 17-year-old had been enjoying a great year on the ITF Pro Circuit and came into the month having won two titles from three singles final appearances.
November started with two tournaments at the Lyttos Beach Hotel resort in Heraklion as the sixth seed.
In the first of these two Greek tournaments, Safiullin got off to a flying start winning the opening six games. His opponent, wild card entrant Aggelos Venizelos, made things a bit tougher in the second set before going down 60 64.
Only three games were played, all won by the Russian, before his second round match was brought to an early end with the retirement of David Sofaer from Hong Kong.
Two straight sets wins followed to set up a final with the fifth seeded Serbian player Ivan Bjelica.
Safiullin started his final match of the week in the same manner in which he had started the week by posting an opening set win without loss of a game.
The Serbian though hit back and claimed the second set to force a deciding third set which saw Safiullin secure the title. His 60 36 63 win presented him with a first title three months after his last.
Staying at the same venue for his second tournament of the month, Safiullin again opened with a first set win of 60 and then dropped one game in the second set to move into round two.
In the second round he found himself having to come from behind to gain victory and following a straight sets quarterfinal win he once again found himself up against Bjelica.
In a repeat of the previous week’s final, this match also went to three sets and saw, for the second time this week, Safiullin come from behind to claim the victory, although this came by virtue of Bjelica retiring whilst Safiullin led 4-1 in the deciding set.
The final pitted him up against a third successive Serbian opponent in Denis Bejtulahi and the unseeded player caused a stir when edging the opening set 64. Not to be denied back-to-back singles titles for the first time in his career, Safiullin levelled the match with a 7-2 tiebreak win and secured another title in a reverse of the opening set score.
Following a one week break, Safiullin returned to competitive play in Turkey. Seeded seventh in Antalya the young Russian began the tournament at a new career high ATP ranking of 406.
In Antalya he also teamed up with Croatia’s Marin Bradaric in the doubles event but their hopes of landing the title came to an end with a straight sets quarterfinal defeat.
The wins, however, kept on coming in singles play. Two wins in straight sets in the opening two rounds were followed by a three setter in the quarterfinal. This latest win set up a semifinal against his first seeded opponent of the week, Kirill Dmitriev.
His fellow Russian was seeded eighth and in a close match it was Safiullin who emerged victorious 76(2) 64 to reach his third final in as many tournaments.
A hat trick of singles titles was completed with a 76(7) 63 win in the final over Denys Mylokostov. The Ukrainian had put in impressive displays during the week having initially come through the qualifying event but this proved to be one match too many as Safiullin’s run of successes continued.
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