Game, Set, Victory! Denis Kudla is on course at the 26th GERRY WEBER OPEN. Guido Pella, Nikoloz Basilashvili, Lukas Lacko, Stefanos Tsitsipas and now Yuichi Sugita were his opponents on the way to the Semis. Up til now, the Qualifier hasn't had a set taken off him on the grass court in Halle. And in the Quarterfinals he won in straight sets 6:2, 7:5 against the World's No. 52 Sugita.
Kudla got to a good start in the first set. He took Sugita's service and went into the lead 2:0. The Japanese wasn't playing a constant match today. Good games were followed by low phases with too many mistakes. He only won two of his services in the first round, but these to nill. Th Japanese gamed away his only break point in the first set. Kudla was much more effective and used his second chance to break against the World's No. 52. Both players profited from their opponent's mistakes.The Qualifier from the USA was able to benefit better. After 29 minutes he got the first set.
Sugita, who had defeated French Open finalist Dominic Thiem in the Round of Sixteen, got to a quick start in the second set. He won the first three went to the 29 year old Japanese. Sugita's performance, especially his return, got better, but to be fair, Kudla's was not so good as in the first set. Sugitas was still making a lot of mistakes though. He lost the chance of getting a deciding break and also lost his then following service. With that he let Kudla get back into the match easily. The 25 year old American was then treated on his left hamstring, was able to play on though. Now the Japanese was as good as defeated, he collected another break and didn't get into the match again. Kudla secured his first match point after 1:21 hours and with that his ticket to the Semis.
He will either meet Matthew Ebden oder record-holding champion Roger Federer.
