Eighth seed J.J. Wolf of the United States beat his compatriot Stefan Kozlov 6-2 7-6 in a Round of 32 match at the San Diego Open on Monday. The match lasted for a little under two hours.
It was the 23-year-old Wolf’s fourth career win over his 24-year-old opponent and their head-to-head is now tied at 4-4. Now, we will take a look at three things that stood out in the match:
Three Things that Stood Out in J.J. Wolf’s Win over Stefan Kozlov
#1 Wolf breezed through the first set by playing the angles well:
The first four games of the match were well-contested as both players managed to hold their serve. However, Kozlov had to save a break point in the fourth game. Wolf then raced through the remainder of the first set, winning four consecutive games.
Wolf played the angles really well in the first set and often succeeded in pinning his opponent to the latter’s backhand corner by playing the angles well and then winning the point by hitting down-the-line winners to the open court. Kozlov lacked power off his backhand wing and Wolf took full advantage of that.
#2 Kozlov recovered well to have a good start to the second set:
Kozlov seemed to have recovered well and made a great start to the second set. He broke Wolf in the very first game of the second set and then held his serve to love in two consecutive service games to lead 3-1.
Kozlov covered the court really well at the beginning of the second set and also played a few good passing shots. Wolf rushed the net more frequently in the second set, but that tactic backfired at times as Kozlov managed to pass him on a few occasions.
#3 Wolf bounced back to win the close second set:
However, Wolf then bounced back in a resounding manner and won three consecutive games to lead 5-4. The two players managed to hold their serve for the remainder of the set as it went into a tie-break.
Wolf emerged as the winner after a close tie-break, winning it 8-6. He played a few nice passes as the set progressed after having dragged his opponent to the net by playing drop shots. Wolf had a poor first serve ratio of 57% against Kozlov’s 75% in the match. However, he managed to win 69% of the points on his second serve against his opponent’s 50% and it made the difference in the end.
Main Photo from Getty.
