American Denis Kudla completed a comeback against Jordan Thompson on Monday at the Delray Beach Open with a dominant performance in a third-set tie-break. The 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(2) victory avenged a straight-sets loss for Kudla against the Aussie last week in Dallas.
“I thought we both served well, we were both playing pretty physical,” Kudla said post-match. “But whoever really got in front of the point stayed in front. Obviously it came down to a few points at the end and I was happy to execute.”
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The 30-year-old was trailing by a set and an early break at the ATP 250, but immediately levelled the second set after losing his opening service game. He saved two break points midway through set two before forcing a final set with his second break of the match.
After a final set without a single break point, the Kiev-born Kudla took control of the tie-break by winning four straight points from 1/1. He survived 19 aces from Thompson in the two-hour, 36-minute match, hitting 22 winners in the victory.
Second seed Tommy Paul awaits Kudla in the second round, with both men part of the United States Davis Cup team that beat Uzbekistan earlier this month. They will contest their second ATP Head2Head matchup, with Paul winning their previous encounter in 2019 in Washington. Kudla beat Paul in four other professional matches below tour-level from 2015-18.
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Another American also moved on when Michael Mmoh battled past countryman Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 after two hours and 54 minutes. Mmoh pushed Dallas Open champion to three sets last week and advanced to the third round of the Australian Open as a qualifier.
Ecuador’s Emilio Gomez also advanced early on Monday with a 7-6(3), 6-4 win against Wu Tung-Lin. The son of former world No. 4 Andres Gomez, the 30-year-old reached his first ATP Tour quarter-final last week in Dallas. He will meet top seed Taylor Fritz next.
Later in the day, Portuguese qualifier Nuno Borges defeated lucky loser Steve Johnson 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to set up a second-round meeting with fourth seed Miomir Kecmanovic. It was the second time in as many days that Borges beat Johnson, after his straight-sets win against the American in the final round of qualifying on Sunday.
In the Delray Beach evening session, fifth seed Yoshihito Nishioka defeated Germany’s Oscar Otte 6-3, 0-6, 6-4. The Japanese No. 1 won a dramatic final set that included five breaks in the final six games.