Daniel Kosakowski qualifies to the main draws; beats Denis Kudla – Farmers Classic 2011
In an all-American showdown in the final round of the qualifiers at the Farmers Classic in Straus Stadium, University College Los Angeles (UCLA) Bruin Daniel Kosakowski, driven by home crowd support, drowned his opponent
Denis Kudla in a deftly manoeuvred two set victory. The sophomore is now all set to make an appearance in the main draws of the tournament, his first outing in an ATP tour event.
The 19 years old UCLA student is himself amazed by his outstanding performance. Talking after the match, Kosakowski said that he had woken up on Monday and drove to campus as he usually does, unaware of what the tournament
had in store for him. "I’ve grown up watching this tournament," Kosakowski said. "It feels amazing." The No. 1 overall recruit in USA’s class of 2010 Kosakowski had earlier managed to stage an upset exit for top seed Japanese Tatsuma Ito in their
second round match.
Kudla, born in Ukraine has had a satisfying season so far. He exceeded expectations in Newport, where as a wild card entrant he took out Ivo Karlovic and second seed Grigor Dmitrov on his way to the quarter finals against Michael
Yani. He again reached the quarter finals in Atlanta recently before losing to Australian Marinko Matusevic. Kudla had managed to proceed to the second round of the qualies by moving past Sahr Timothy Kpulun in a two set victory.
This one hour forty five minutes long match was the two players’ first meeting.
The first set witnessed both the players grab two succinctly placed aces each. The set quickly levelled to the 2-2 mark before Kudla managed to break his opponent’s serve and move ahead of him. Kosakowski fought back by
successfully converting a breakpoint in the very next game but Kudla managed to catch up again at 4-4. However Kosakowski registered another serve break destroying Kudla’s resolve and rallied ahead. Kosakowski won an astounding 85% of his first serve points
– he amassed 11 of his 13 serve points. The first set sealed comfortably at 6-4 in Kosakowski’s account.
The second set proved to be more challenging than the first, with both the players managing to register one break point each. The two young contenders fought fiercely and remained on each others’ heels throughout the set.
Kosakowski, cheered upon by his family and friends in the stands, managed to win the set through a tie breaker that included a contentious call from the chair umpire. He won 7 points against Kudla’s 4.
Kosakowski, the only remaining Bruin in the Farmers Classic, will play his opening match in the main draws of the tournament against fellow qualifier American Tim Smyczek.
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