Denis Kudla overcomes Blake Strode to enter the main draw – SAP Open 2012
Qualifying fourth seed, Denis Kudla, battled past Blake Strode in an all-American duel at the qualifying completion of the Sap Open 2012 on Monday. He jolted down a 6-4, 6-7(7), 6-4 victory over his fellow citizen to book a spot in the main draw at this
ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 series event held in San Jose, California, United States.
The 19-year-old hammered massive forehands and backhands from his box of tricks to outclass Strode in two hours and 23 minutes. Facing each other for the first time, Kudla secured a main draw spot at the HP Pavilion for a shot to bag $600,000 prize money.
World number 203, Kudla entered the San Jose hard courts with conviction and held his serve in the opening game. He held his composure in the remaining match and plucked in remaining serves. The seed got the breakthrough in the last game and clinched the
opening set with a 6-4 score line.
The 24-year-old on the other end redeployed his strategy in the following set. Strode failed to convert the only break opportunity he sought to his advantage but managed to brush off both breakpoints he encountered. As a result, the set went to a tie-breaker
where the lower ranked American dominated and sealed the equaliser with a 7-6(7) win.
The teenager shined again when the set scores were equalised. He got the desiderated break in the third game and later kept remaining serves to bag the decider by winning six games to four. Kudla swiped in his serves without facing any real challenge and
found four break chances.
The Ukrainian-born will face the wild card entrant, Jack Sock, in the first round of this hard court event.
Eighth seed Tim Smyczek will join Kudla in the main draw. He earned a 6-3, 4-2 retirement victory over the second seed, Richard Berankis, in 47-minutes. The American made quick in-roads with a break of serve in the opening set. He got the critical break
in the second game and held remaining serves to pen down a 6-3 victory.
Ranked 301st in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Smyczek kept momentum flowing in the following set and held his serve in the second game to tie the scores at 1-1. He then earned the desiderated break in the fifth game and subsequently
went 4-2 up. However, the Lithuanian was forced to retire after this because of an injury he sustained during the match.
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