Michael Mmoh defeats Jared Hiltzik in Godfrey F22 Final

The Godfrey USA F22 Future Final was all you could have wanted and more as both Illinois rising senior Jared Hiltzik and 17-year old Michael Mmoh slugged it out point after point for the better part of 3 hours.  The match was originally scheduled to start at 10am central but rain in the area pushed the starting time back an hour to 11am.  Most of the match was played under cloudy skies with temperatures in the mid-70s until rain halted play for about 30 minutes early in the 3rd set. The 30-minute break would be big for Mmoh but we'll get to that in a little bit.

Mmoh, who had won 1 previous Futures title (2014 USA F29/Brownsville), came into the match without having dropped a set all week while Hiltzik, who was making his first appearance in a Futures final, had a pair of matches go the distance. Mmoh came into the final with an ATP ranking of #618 (also an ITF Jr Ranking of #3) while Hiltzik was ranked #704.

Mmoh came out really focused in the first set and was hammering both his forehand and backhand with laser like precision while Hiltzik struggled a bit to keep the ball in play. Hiltzik had more errors in the 1st set than I remember seeing in his whole semifinal match against Clay Thompson.