Super Saturday Set @CVilleTennis: Doubles Championship and Semifinals
Only four competitors remain alive in singles play after Friday’s intense action. When all was said and done, Denis Kudla, James Duckworth, Alex Kuznetsov and Liam Broady emerged as this year’s semifinalists. They will battle it out Saturday for a spot in Sunday’s championship match.
Kudla’s opponent, Tennys Sandgren, won Friday night’s first set convincingly, but the No. 3 seed forced a third set in which he cruised to a 2-6, 7-5, 6-2 win.
Duckworth, the No. 6 seed, won his first five games en route to a 6-1, 6-2 rout of Japan’s Taro Daniel on Friday.
Kuznetsov ended the run of French qualifier Laurent Lokoli, who upset No. 1 seed Sam Groth in the opening round of the Main Draw, with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 win in just under two hours.
Broady outlasted Ryan Harrison in a back-and-forth affair that lasted over two and a half hours, 6-7(2), 7-6(4), 6-3.
The doubles title is set for Saturday afternoon, as top seeds Treat Huey and Frederik Nielsen defeated Sekou Bangoura and Evan King, 6-3, 7-6(2). Huey and Nielsen will go up against the British tandem of Lewis Burton and Marcus Willis in Saturday’s doubles final at 1 p.m. Burton and Willis got past Gastao Elias and Sean Thornley in Friday’s opening match in a thriller, 7-6(9), 6-7(2), 10-6.
Huey will look to become the tournament’s first repeat doubles champion after winning the title with former University of Virginia teammate Dominic Inglot in 2011.
After Saturday’s doubles awards ceremony, the singles semifinals will begin (not before 3 p.m.) with Duckworth squaring off against Kuznetsov. The final match on Saturday pits Kudla against Broady.
—Scott Radcliffe
Tennis Atlantic 