Sherwood Collegiate Cup Wrap Up

The finals of doubles and singles at Sherwood both saw bruins and trojans in action

The singles final was Junior Captain Adrien Puget v. Junior Ray Sarmiento (USC)

This was a tightly contested match that ended up favoring SC 4-6,6-3,7-5. Not a bad showing from Adrien considering it was first taste of competition since nationals in Athens, GA last year.

The doubles final featured Sophomores Dennis Novikov and Marcos Giron vs. Eric Johnson and Emilio Gomez (USC)

This match was also very tightly contested as the scoreline states but ended up favoring the Bruins 8-7 (4).

No doubt a great showing from the bruins and a good warmup to the start of the season

Novikov serves his way through to the second round!

Sophomore Dennis Novikov recorded his first grand slam main draw win today as he served up 25 aces to battle past Jerzy Janowicz of Poland. Novikov took control of the match early in the first set. In the second set the two dueled it out in a tiebreaker and Dennis needed a handful of set points, but eventually got the second set under his belt. As the second set began, Novikov seemed to find his rhythm on his service recording 11 aces to ease past many of his service games. He saw just a slight dip in the third set but eventually in the fourth set Novi was able to serve out the match with an ace. 6-2 7-6 3-6 6-3. A great performance backed by many bruin proud out there in Flushing Meadows! Novikov will play world number 35 Julien Benneteau, a veteran frenchman, in the second round. Benneteau defeated Oliver Rochus in straight sets earlier today to etch his name next to Novikov’s. In last year’s US Open Benneteau made it to the third round before eventually losing to American Andy Roddick. Looking for a good match between a young-gun in Novikov and a tour veteran in Benneteau!

Novikov will be teaming up with Blue Devil, Michael Redlicki on Wednesday in doubles against two former NCAA All-Americans. This team is as American and as experienced as it gets…Bobby Reynolds who played for Vanderbilt and Michael Russell who played for The University of Miami. This all American match also looks to have that similar veteran versus young-gun feel.  Together Reynolds and Russell have over 20 years of tour experience whereas Redlicki and Novikov are two collegiate players who are just getting a taste of what the pro tour is like.

Go Bruins!!

Check out the video of matchpoint on the UCLA twitter page!

Photo and video courtesy of our east coast voice Barry Goldenberg!!

Draws are Out!

Dennis Novikov will be playing his first round match at the US Open against Jerzy Janowicz of Poland. Janowicz is also in his inagural apperance at the open. He did make a run to the third round at Wilmbledon this year and is currently ranked 87 in the world. He is also the second highest ranked Polish player behind Kubot.

Yesterday Daniel Kosakowski defeated Jesse Huta Galung of the Netherlands to claim his spot in the second round of qualifying. Despite a rain delay DK prevailed 6-4 6-2.

Daniel Kosakowski will be playing his 2nd round qualifying match later today at 5 PM (Eastern) against the number two seed Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia. Bedene is currently ranked 82 in the world. Bedene does very well on the clay courts with notable wins over big names such as Grigor Dimitrov and Michael Russell on clay. He also has notable wins on the hard courts, incluidng a tournament win in Wuhan, China last month. With a win today Daniel will only be one match away from joining Dennis Novikov in the Main Draw of singles at the US Open.

Wishing DK good luck today in his match!!

GO BRUINS!

Update:
DK advanced to the third round of qualifying after taking out the second seed Aljaz Bedene 6-3 3-6 7-6 in a thrilling tiebreak set!! Close match and great tennis throughout the entire match. Great to see former managers Barry Goldenberg and Daniel Vu in DK’s box! This puts DK only one match away from his first main draw appearance in a grand slam!