Ivan Lendl’s influence is being felt at the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships as two of his students have earned their spots in the final round of the qualifying tournament.
“He’s funny off the court but he’s serious on the court and he’s obviously a genius, so it’s an honor to work with him,” said Patrick Kypson, the 16-year old American from Greenville, N.C., who gutted out a 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 win over fellow American Kurt Thein on Sunday.
“He’s obviously a great player, a very good coach,” said 17-year-old Tampa, Fla., resident Vasil Kirkov, of the Vero Beach-based Hall of Famer Lendl following his 6-2, 7-5 win Sunday over Frederick Saba of the United States.
Both Kirkov and Kypson have been to Vero Beach about a half dozen times since late last year training with Lendl at The Windsor Club as part of Lendl’s new coaching role with the USTA Player Development program. Two other 17-year-old players training with Lendl, Gianni Ross and Sam Riffice, received wild cards into the main draw of the tournament that starts on Monday.
The score of Kypson’s match does not truly display how tight and intense the match was throughout, as both players were battling each other, not only on the court, but in their minds.
“Being a lot older, he thinks he can intimidate me,” stated Kypson about his and Thein’s interactions throughout the match. With a lot of close line calls that required an umpire to settle the dispute, along with loud and spirited celebrations after the majority of the points, both players gave their opponent plenty of distractions to deal with.
“On top of that I was playing pretty bad,” said Kypson, who won the making his win today even more impressive. True champions are said to be able to win matches when they are unable to play their best, and that is something that coach Lendl has been able to instill in Kypson.
“I was competing very well today,” said Kirkov of his match with the No. 5 seed Saba. “It was a good win…I’m pretty happy I played well today and getting confidence from a match like this is very important.”
The wins for Kypson and Kirkov have earned them spots in the final round of qualifying rounds that take place at 11 am Monday. Both players have already played in five USTA Pro Circuit main draws and will be hoping to make their sixth appearance in a main draw here in Vero Beach.
Kypson’s final round of qualifying match will be against fellow young American William Howells, a 17-year old Boca Raton native. The two played during Kypson’s run to the title at the USTA Boy’s 16 and Under National Championships in 2015, with Kypson winning 6-3, 6-2.
“William is a tough player, but I’m looking forward to it,” claimed Kypson, who isn’t letting the result of their prior meeting give him any false confidence.
Kirkov’s match will also be played against another rising junior, 17-year-old Hady Habib from Houston.
“I know he has a big serve and a big forehand…he’s going to play very aggressive and I need to stay very steady like I did today,” said Kirkov of Habib.
Other notable results on Sunday came from Russia’s Evgeny Korolev, who easily defeated the No. 6 seed Jose Daniel Bendeck of Colombia, 6-0, 6-2, and Tigre Hank of Mexico, the No. 1 seed in the qualifying tournament, who defeated Gabriel Carvajal of Ecuador in 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
Korolev, the former No. 46 player in the world, is making a comeback of sorts to professional tennis after stepping away from the game a year and half ago when his father suddenly passed away. His comeback is looking successful so far and he is hoping to carry his streak of impressive performances into the main draw.
The No. 1 seed in the qualifying tournament, Hank, was down 4-1 in third set and looked like he was on his way out of Vero Beach before he would go on to roll off five games in a row to come back and win.
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