Farmers Classic action begins with qualifying rounds
Professional tennis is coming to Westwood Village once again. The first action of the 2011 Farmers Classic took place this weekend at UCLA’s Sycamore Tennis Courts, where the qualifying rounds were played.
The names of most of the players in the qualifiers will test the knowledge of even the most devoted tennis junkie ““ there are no Mardy Fishes or Juan Martin Del Potros in these parts.
However, contenders can come from anywhere. Australia’s Carsten Ball reached the 2009 championship match as a qualifier before falling to American Sam Querrey.
Ball was in action again on Saturday as the eighth seed in the qualifiers, defeating Spain’s Luiz Antonio Perez-Perez 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the second round but fell to Lauryna Grigelis in straight sets Sunday.
Advancing to the final round of qualifying was Chile’s Nicolas Massu, perhaps the most recognizable name who took to the Sycamore courts.
Massu, who was ranked No. 9 in the world by the ATP in 2004, defeated Israeli Harel Srugo in straight sets during the first round of qualifying. Srugo is familiar with UCLA, having played for the Bruins under head coach Billy Martin from 2007-2008, but could not use that familiarity to his advantage.
Massu returned on Sunday, playing in a duel against Yuichi Sugita. Sugita won the first set 6-4, but Massu bounced back to win the second one 7-5. The final set had multiple games go into deuce and eventually final points had to be played. Massu ultimately emerged victorious in the third set winning 7-6 (5).
Current Bruin Daniel Kosakowski, a rising sophomore, managed to come out of his first qualifying match victorious. He defeated Karlis Lejnieks of Latvia, 6-1, 6-2.
Kosakowski picked up another victory Sunday, moving closer toward qualifying for his first ATP tournament. He upset top-seeded Tatsuma Ito of Japan, who is currently ranked No. 104 in this week’s ATP Tour Rankings.
With the backing of a UCLA-friendly crowd, Kosakowski defeated Ito by winning 6-0, 6-2, after establishing a 5-1 lead in the second set.
Kosakowski is the sole Bruin remaining in qualifying and will face fellow American Denis Kudla, who was a finalist at the 2010 U.S. Open Juniors Championships. Kudla defeated Sahr Timothy Kpulun of Sierra Leone in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2, in the second qualifying round.
Other winners on Sunday who advance to the final round of qualifying include South Africa’s Rik de Voest, American Tim Smyczek, Australian Greg Jones and Clement Reix of France. Reix upset the No. 3 seed, Marinko Matosevic, in straight sets on Sunday.
Smyczek is the only seeded American at No. 5 and advanced to the next round of qualifying after defeating Artem Sitak of New Zealand in straight sets.
Jones remained victorious after winning his match against American Bradley Klahn. The match was close, going to three sets after the first two sets were split 6-4 and 5-7, with Jones winning the first and Klahn the second. The Australian eventually won the third set with the same score as the first, 6-4.
The final qualifying round is today, with four advancing to play in main draw of the Farmers Classic.
Compiled by Daniel Khayat and Chris Nguyen, Bruin Sports senior staff.
