Tennis Acumen

Mikhail Kukushkin & Matteo Berrettini Win Semis, Meet in Inaugural Phoenix Final

PETE ZIEBRON in PHOENIX

Greeted by a Canadian Goose on Semifinal Day at the Arizona Tennis Classic.  Pete Ziebron Images

Saturday afternoon at the Phoenix Country Club, a near capacity crowd enjoyed sunny 80F temperatures at the first Arizona Tennis Classic, an impressive new edition to the ATP Challenger schedule.  The sun and warmth was a far cry from the unseasonable cold just 72 hours earlier.

Mikhail Kukushkin advances to the Final.  Pete Ziebron Images

Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan raced to a 6-1 opening set win over Italian Salvatore Caruso, who upset #1 seed David Goffin on Friday afternoon.  The world #43 Kukushkin broke the Italian in his first service game and two more times in the opening set.  In the next set, Kukushkin also did not face a break point against and finally did break Caruso as he served for a 6-5 lead in the second set.  Following the break, Kukushkin closed out the match on his serve for a 6-1 7-5 victory.

Next up, Matteo Berrettini of Italy took on Argentine Guido Andreozzi.  The opening set was high quality tennis as there were no breaks of serve, although Berrettini failed to break on all six of his chances.  In the eleventh game of the first set, there were nine deuces, Berrettini did not convert breaks on four occasions and finally Andreozzi won the game on his fifth game point.  In total, 23 points were played in the eleventh game.  Although the next game also went to deuce, Berrettini hit his fifth ace of the set to take it to a tiebreaker.  The players split the first four points before the Italian took the next four to claim a 6-2 lead.  Two points later, the world #57 Berrettini won the opening set 7-6(3).

Matteo Berrettini cruises to victory in the second set.  Pete Ziebron Images

Although Andreozzi won 47 points in the first set, he could only manage to win just nine in the second set as Berrettini coasted to a 6-1 second set win to advance to the final.

Ironically, Matteo Berrettini and Mikhail Kukushkin also met in an ATP Challenger Final last year on this same week, at the now defunct Irving Challenger.  Kukushkin won that match 6-2 3-6 6-1 and is the higher ranked player heading into today's Final.

The Canadian Geese arriving at the Arizona Tennis Classic.  Pete Ziebron Images

 

Casper Ruud & David Goffin Advance in Phoenix

PETE ZIEBRON in PHOENIX

Casper Ruud of Norway defeats Elias Ymer of Sweden   Pete Ziebron Images

Following the initial three games of the Jeremy Chardy - Lorenzo Sonego match on Center Court at the Arizona Tennis Classic, I ventured over to Court 2 to watch an intriguing battle between youngsters Elias Ymer of Sweden and Casper Ruud of Norway.

The Swede took control of the match early on and yielded just 14 points in the opening set to Ruud in winning 6-1.  However the Norwegian was able to correct course in the following set.  Despite the fact that Ruud was able to convert just one of the five break points he had, it would prove to be enough as the match was now leveled at a set apiece with a 6-3 tally in the middle set.  In the final set, Ruud earned an early break and it seemed that it would just be a matter of time until he would advance to the next round.  The Norwegian was able to find another gear in the final set while Ymer never really threatened in the match following a solid opening set.

My vantage point for the match was exactly between Elias Ymer's Father and Casper Ruud's family.  They sat in the top row of three rows of bleachers while I stood behind the temporary seating arrangement.  Ironically they played the match on a court where Madison Keys won a $75K title in 2012 in the now defunct Goldwater Classic.  

Immediately following Ruud's win, Italian Lorenzo Sonego stunned Jeremy Chardy on Center Court.  In the three games I saw in that match, Sonego's service motion and a bit of his game reminded me of Robin Soderling.  Next up on Center was the David Goffin - Roberto Carballes Baena match, with the winner to take on Ruud the following day.

The first row behind the baseline features a very unique vantage point.  Picture the short wall down the right field line in Fenway Park and this is basically what we have in Phoenix, a wall no higher than four feet tall.  Sitting in this seat enabled me to watch the backswing from an entirely new perspective.

Goffin cruised to an easy 6-1 first set win and it appeared that he would be off the court in an instant.  However Carballes Baena had other ideas and was able to break the Belgian twice and rally back from a 1-4 deficit.  Unfortunately, the Spaniard was not happy with a call that would have given him a 40-0 lead.  Instead, he lost the point in question and proceeded to lose the next three points to get broken.  Despite breaking back and holding, Goffin served out the match and won the second set 6-4.

The following day, Goffin would defeat Ruud 7-6(4) 7-6(4) to advance to the quarterfinals.

 

Arizona Tennis Classic Observations - More Like an ATP 375 Rather Than A Challenger

PETE ZIEBRON in PHOENIX

The Arizona Tennis Classic at The Phoenix Country Club  Pete Ziebron Images

When the draw for the inaugural Arizona Tennis Classic was released on Sunday it looked like something better than an ATP 250 but not quite an ATP 500 - more like an ATP 375, if such a thing existed.  Five ATP top 50 players entered the Main Draw, including world #21 David Goffin, the #1 seed in this ATP Challenger.

Today I arrived on the grounds of the Phoenix Country Club just before 4 PM local time and was able to see one full match and parts of two others.  Poland's Kamil Majchrzak defeated Mikael Ymer of Sweden 7-6(3) 6-3 in 89 minutes on Court 2 to advance to the second round.  Majchrzak was extremely efficient in break point conversions, winning all four on the day.  The twenty year-old Ymer showed flashes of talent in the match but struggled to find his first serve, coming in at just 51% in the match.

Britain's Dan Evans in early round action in Phoenix.  Pete Ziebron Images

The next match on Court 2 featured {Alt} Ernesto Escobedo of the United States against Daniel Evans of Great Britain.  The opening game took ten minutes before the American finally claimed it.  In fact, the Brit looked a bit bewildered at the overall pace of Escobedo's game, particularly his serve.  During the match, Escobedo's coach confirmed to me that his serve tops out near 140 MPH.  Despite falling behind 1-3. Evans broke at love to get back on serve and then took the opening set 6-4 at exactly 6:00 PM local time.  Evans then stated to the umpire that it was too dark to continue and that he "wouldn't even be playing golf in this poor light."  The brit got his wish and the match was suspended due to darkness.

Moving to Center Court, Elias Ymer, older brother of Mikael, faced veteran Czech Lukas Rosol.  The Swede dazzled the crowd with spectacular shot making and took the opening set 6-3.  Next, he was up a break at 3-2 when the heavy rain returned and washed out the remainder of play for the day in Phoenix.

This new ATP 375 tournament, OOPS I mean ATP Challenger, is a nice opportunity for player to get competitive match play following their departure from Indian Wells and prior to Miami.