Ten years and one day after winning his final ATP singles title in Newport, Mark Philippoussis was once again victorious on the grass courts at the Newport Casino at the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
Philippoussis won his third PowerShares Series of the year Sunday beating Marat Safin 6-4 in the one-set championship match to win the PowerShares Legends Newport title in Newport, R.I.
The win was the third in as many events for Philippoussis this year on the North American tennis circuit for champion tennis players over age 30. By earning 400 ranking points, Philippoussis moved passed Andy Roddick into the top position in the PowerShares Series rankings. Through six events on the 12-event PowerShares Series in 2016, Philippoussis has 1200 points to Roddick’s 1000 points, while James Blake ranks No. 3 with 700 points.
The win from Philippoussis came 10 years and one day when he won his 11th and final ATP singles title when he won the 2006 Hall of Fame Championships on the very same grass court as his PowerShares Series title Sunday. From the “This Day In Tennis History” book, ebook, mobile app and audio book (www.TennisHistoryApp.com) from July 16, 2006, Philippoussis, ranked No. 214 in the world, won his 11th career singles title – and first in three years – defeating Justin Gimelstob 6-3, 7-5 to win the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.
Philippoussis was able to use his powerful serve and frequent trips to the net to beat both Andy Roddick in the semifinals and Safin in the final. Against Safin, he broke Safin’s serve for a 2-0 lead with a falling down backhand overhead winner on break point. Nicknamed “Scud” for his powerful serve, Philippoussis even knocked Safin to the ground with a 127 mph ace to hold serve for a 5-3 lead, before serving out the title two games later.
In April, Philippoussis won PowerShares Series titles on back-to-back nights indoors in Tulsa and Memphis, beating Jim Courier in both finals. Philippoussis has now won seven career PowerShares Series singles titles in his career. Safin, who was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame the previous day, was playing in his first PowerShares Series event since 2010.
To advance to the final, Safin beat James Blake 7-6(2) while Philippoussis beat Roddick 6-4.
On Saturday, Safin was officially inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame, alongside Justine Henin, Yvon Petra and Margaret Scriven.
Each PowerShares Series event features two one-set semifinal matches and a one-set championship match and, for the second straight year, players make their own line calls with assistance of electronic line-calling.
The event marked the return of PowerShares Series tennis to Newport after the International Tennis Hall of Fame hosted events in 2007, 2008 and 2009.
The remaining 2016 PowerShares Series schedule with player fields are listed below and ticket, schedule and player information can be found at www.PowerSharesSeries.com;
August 21 – Winston-Salem, N.C. (Wake Forest University) – Andy Roddick, Jim Courier, James Blake, Mardy Fish
August 25, 26 – New Haven (Yale University) – Andy Roddick, John McEnroe, James Blake, Mardy Fish
October 27 – Los Angeles (Sherwood Tennis Club) – Andy Roddick, Jim Courier, James Blake, Mardy Fish
November 4 – Portland, Oregon (Moda Center) – Andy Roddick, John McEnroe, Jim Courier, Mardy Fish
December 1 – Orlando (Amway Arena) – Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick, Jim Courier, James Blake
December 3 – New York (Barclays Center) – Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick, Jim Courier, James Blake
In 2015, Andy Roddick won the PowerShares Series points title in his second year of competing on the series with 1,600 points. Roddick won a record eight events Los Angeles, Lincoln, Chicago, Austin, Little Rock, Dallas, Richmond and Minneapolis. Blake finished second in the points rankings with 1,200 points, winning events in Boston and Cincinnati. Mark Philippoussis finished in third with 1,100 points, winning titles in Salt Lake City and Vancouver. The year before in 2014, McEnroe won the points title for the first time in the nine-year history of Champions Series tennis by winning events in Kansas City, Indianapolis, Nashville and Charlotte.
ABOUT INSIDEOUT SPORTS + ENTERTAINMENT
InsideOut Sports + Entertainment is a Los Angeles based producer of proprietary events and promotions founded in 2004 by former world No. 1 and Hall of Fame tennis player Jim Courier and former SFX and Clear Channel executive Jon Venison. In 2005, InsideOut launched its signature property, the Champions Series, a collection of tournaments featuring the greatest names in tennis over the age of 30. In addition, InsideOut produces many other successful events including “Legendary Night” exhibitions, The World Series of Beach Volleyball and numerous corporate outings. Since inception, InsideOut Sports + Entertainment has raised over $4 million for charity. In 2014, InsideOut Sports + Entertainment merged with Horizon Media, the largest privately held media services agency in the world. For more information, please log on to www.InsideOutSE.com or www.powersharesseries.com or follow on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
ABOUT HORIZON MEDIA
Horizon Media, Inc. is the largest and fastest growing privately held media services agency in the world. The company was founded in 1989, is headquartered in New York and has offices in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Chicago. Horizon Media was chosen as 2011 Independent Media Agency of the Year by Mediapost, 2010 U.S. Media Agency of the Year by Adweek, Brandweek, and Mediaweek as well as by Ad Age and as one of the world’s ten most innovative marketing and advertising companies by Fast Company in 2011. In 2012, Bill Koenigsberg, President, CEO and Founder, was honored by Advertising Age as Industry Executive of the Year. Most recently, in 2014, Bill Koenigsberg was named 4As Chair of the Board and is the first person from a media agency to hold this prestigious position in the 100 year history of the 4As, the marketing industry’s leading trade association. The company’s mission is “To create the most meaningful brand connections within the lives of people everywhere.” By delivering on this mission through a holistic approach to brand marketing, Horizon Media has become one of the largest and fastest-growing media agencies in the industry, with estimated billings of over $5.3 billion and over 1,200 employees. The company is also a founding member of Columbus Media International, a multi-national partnership of independent media agencies. For more information, please visit horizonmedia.com.
ABOUT INVESCO POWERSHARES
Invesco PowerShares Capital Management LLC is leading the Intelligent ETF Revolution® through its lineup of more than 140 domestic and international exchange-traded funds, which seek to outperform traditional benchmark indexes while providing advisors and investors access to an innovative array of focused investment opportunities. With franchise assets of nearly $100 billion as of October 2, 2015, PowerShares ETFs trade on both US stock exchanges. For more information, please visit us at invescopowershares.com or follow us on Twitter @PowerShares.
ABOUT POWERSHARES QQQ
PowerShares QQQ™, an exchange-traded fund (ETF) based on the NASDAQ-100 Index®, is one of the largest and most traded ETFs in the world. Under most circumstances, QQQ will consist of all of the stocks in the index which includes 100 of the largest domestic and international nonfinancial companies listed on the NASDAQ Stock Market based on market capitalization
