Antonio Veic hits back at Denis Kudla in the opening round – Sony Ericsson Open 2012
Croatian qualifier, Antonio Veic, bounces back to overcome the local wild card entrant, Denis Kudla, in a three set mouth-watering match at the Sony Ericsson Open 2012 on Wednesday night. He nudged up a 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 score line
against the 19-year-old to advance into the second round at this hard court tournament taking place from 19th March to 1st April.
The Zagreb resident, Veic, lost his serve three times to fall in the opening set. However, he broke the wild card’s serve five times after this to bag the match in almost one and half hour.
The American teenager made a shaky entry at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park and suffered the first blow in the third game to go 1-2 down. However, he made a stunning reply as he went on a five-game killing spree and pocketed
the set with a 6-2 win.
166th ranked Veic found his rhythm in the proceeding set and got the desiderated break in the opening game to go 2-0 up. He maintained his intensity and capitalised on another break chance in the fifth game before pulling
out the equaliser by winning six games to two.
The 24-year-old played his best tennis in the final set and wiped out the opening four games in a row before Kudla could hold on. Veic broke the American’s serve for a third time in the last game and sealed the decider with a breadstick.
After earning this glory, the Croatian star confidently advanced into the second round where he will confront the 18th seed, Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine, who received a first round bye at this event.
The Slovakian challenger, Lukas Lacko, will join Veic in the follow-up round. He required one hour and 23 minutes dragging down the local contender, Ryan Sweeting, in straight sets to occupy this position. The world number 66 defended
eight out of nine breakpoints he faced and cashed in three out of 12 break chances to formulate a 6-4, 6-4 victory. He also took full advantage of the several unforced errors and seven double faults his rival committed.
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