Vignesh Gogineni Wins First Pro Title At Edwardsville Futures

EDWARDSVILLE - Vignesh Gogineni of Mason, Ohio, and Yale University in New Haven, Conn., won the singles championship of the $30,000 Edwardsville Futures tennis tournament Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026, at the Edwardsville Tennis Center, defeating fifth-seeded Ozan Baris of Okemos, Mich., and Michigan State University 6-4, 6-2 after breaking Baris’ service twice in each set and surviving nine match points in the final game.

The unseeded Gogineni became the 14th different singles champion in the St. Louis area’s only professional tennis tournament. The title marked his first professional final and first pro championship.

The match opened with Gogineni breaking Baris’ serve in the first game after two double faults to take a 1-0 lead. Baris broke back in the next game to tie the set at 1-1, then held serve to move ahead 2-1. Gogineni held to make it 2-2, and after both players held again for 3-3, Gogineni broke Baris a second time to go ahead 4-3. He held for 5-3 and later closed out the opening set 6-4.

In the second set, both players held serve through the first four games for a 2-2 tie. Gogineni then broke in a deuce game for a 3-2 lead, held for 4-2, and broke again to go up 5-2.

Serving for the match, Gogineni was pushed repeatedly to deuce as Baris fought off eight match points. On the ninth, Gogineni ended the match with a drop shot to seal the 6-2 set and the straight-sets victory.

Futures Tournament director Dave Lipe said the week was a success, including Saturday’s move to the indoor courts at Principia College in Elsah because of rain.

“It's been a fantastic week,” Lipe said. “It takes an army of enthusiastic, skilled, talented people to put this on, and starting with the ball kids the sponsors, and our staff, Kirk (Schlueter) and Emily (Cimarolli), Mia (Heuser), all the gofers, all the interns, Grayson Rathgeb, the (United States Tennis Association) officials, in particular our supervisor, Martha Gregg, just so many people to thank.

"We had a huge crowd today (Sunday); it was great to see these stands packed. It was just a fun day, a fun culmination to an outstanding week. It was just a great week, and I'm super pleased with the way the day wound up. I couldn't be happier.”

Lipe also thanked Edwardsville High School’s custodial staff, Edwardsville Community Unit School District 7 and Principia College.

“I think our maintenance staff was outstanding,” Lipe said. “Our custodial staff in District 7, the way the community and the way the school district gets behind it. A big thanks to our maintenance staff that helped us make a successful transition to Principia yesterday, and a big thank you to Principia for their role in helping us get this done yesterday (Saturday).

"We couldn't have gotten it done promptly without the help of Principia College. I appreciate their willingness to accommodate this tournament, that they saw the importance of it, and jumped in was really a big boost to this event. It just couldn't have gone any better; I'm very proud of our staff. As I said, it's a big team effort, and I'm proud of everybody.”

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