Tatsuma Ito plonks Denis Kudla to move into the last four – Honolulu 2012 CH
Japanese tennis star, Tatsuma Ito, booked a berth in the semi-final of the Honolulu Challenger tournament, beating the 276th ranked American teenager, Denis Kudla, in straight sets 6-4, 6-3.
Both players were squaring off for the first time in their career so it was obvious that the experience of the Japanese and superior game play will definitely help him to dominate the proceedings. It went exactly to the script
and the American played a catching game throughout the match; Kudla couldn’t create any sort of pressure on his opponent and kept crumbling in the contest.
A sizeable crowd was present at the arena to witness this encounter and the two contestants put up a quality display of hard-court tennis. Kudla missed a number of opportunities in the contest and eventually had to pay the price
in the end, finishing off his voyage at the ATP (Association of Tennis professionals) Challenger Tour event.
The first set was commenced by the American who held her serve successfully; his opponent followed his footsteps and scores were pushed to 1-1. Same happened in the next two games as well; the scores moved on to 2-2. Ito was looking
to dominate the proceedings but his opponent was limiting his shots and not allowing him to take control of the game.
Kudla was looking good but suddenly he committed a costly double-fault to lose his concentration at that moment. Ito found this as an opportunity to pound on his opponent and played aggressively throughout the game to earn a break
of serve; clubbed it with both hands and took the lead. That was the turning moment of the set.
With no more serve breaks, Ito bagged the first set with ease and exerted immense pressure on his opponent. Kudla commenced the second set with a successful serve game and stunningly broke serve in the next game to take 2-0 lead.
Unfortunately his lead was short-lived as Ito broke serve in the next game and levelled the scores with a comprehensive serve hold.
Momentum shifted back to the Japanese and he broke serve twice in the remaining games of the set to confirm a spot in the semi-finals of the tournament.
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