Tournament Update: BNP Indian Wells Pre-Qualifying

This past weekend I played the BNP Paribas Indian Wells pre-qualifying. The winner of this tournament gets a wildcard into the qualifying of Indian Wells. This was a good opportunity for me to compete as it was the first tournament that I had played in a month. The site is one of my favorite places to play at as the matches are held on the main practice courts at Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

I played my first round against a guy from Minnesota who played in college a few years ago. He had decent groundstrokes and a good return but his serve was the weakest part of his game. I started out well and got the break in the 1^st game and then got another break to take the 1^st set 6-1. The second set was a little closer as he got a few holds to get it to 2-2 before I broke him a few times. I won the match 6-1, 6-2 after serving well and hitting the ball solid for my first tournament in match in awhile.

In the next round I played a good high school player from Weil tennis academy. He had an interesting style as he had flat groudstrokes and was unpredictable. I started out serving big in the 1^st set and broke him a few times to take the 1^st set 6-1. In the second set, I was doing a good job breaking serve but had a few loose games on my serve to keep it close. It was 3-3 before I focused in and broke him again. I held and then broke again to take the match 6-1, 6-3.

In the Round of 16 I played against Uros Petronijevic who played #1 at University of San Diego a few years ago. He is an aggressive baseliner who hits the ball very well off the ground and also returns solid. He broke me  in the first game by hitting some good returns and big groundstrokes. Then the next few games we each held until I broke him at 3-4 to make it 4-4. I raised my level and made more shots. I continued to serve big with a few unreturnable serves each game. I went on to break him again at 5-5 before serving out the first set to win 7-5. In the second set I broke him to go up 3-1 in the 2^nd set by playing attacking and aggressive tennis. We each held our next service games and I was serving for the match at 5-3 when he play some great tennis. He almost didn’t care the next 2 games and was just hitting everyball as hard as he could. At 5-5 I held and then I broke him to win a tight match 7-5, 7-5. This was a solid match from me but still a little inconsistent with a few poor service games.

In the Quarterfinals I played against Jared Thompkins, who is from San Diego. He is a tall lefty player with a big serve and big forehand with good volleys too. He is pretty unpredictable as he doesn’t give you much rhythm. I broke him to start off the match in a long game and then got broken right back the next game as he hit some big shots. However, I was returning well that match and made a lot of quality returns. I broke him a few more times and mixed up my serve well to take the first set 6-1. In the second set it was closer with my opponent serving bigger and closer to the lines. We both held our first two service games to even it at 2-2 and I had break points in his next few service games but he game up with good shots under pressure. I held to go up 5-4 and then played a good return game to break him and win the match 6-1, 6-4.

In the semis I faced off against the #1 seed, Evan Song from Las Vegas who is currently ranked #450 ATP. He is a lefty with a good serve and plays solid from the baseline and likes to move the ball around. We each held our first service game and then at 1-1, he broke me after I was up 40-0 in that game which was disappointing. He served well and I didn’t get too many looks in his service games. He broke me agains at 2-5 and thus I lost the first set 2-6. I needed to take better care of my service games and keep scoreboard pressure on him. In the second set we each held our first 2 service games and then at 2-2 I had 2 break points on his serve to jump out in front. He came up with a big serve on one of them and then I had a good look at an approach but just missed it. He ended up breaking me in a long game at 2-3 to take the lead. This was another game where I had a few game points but he was tough and made me play. I had another break point at 2-4 but he came up with the goods at the big moments. He broke me again and I lost 2-6, 2-6 in a match where there were a ton of close games.

Overall this was a pretty good tournament from me as I hadn’t competed in about a month. It was good to get some matches and see what was working and how the stuff that I had been practicing was doing in matchplay.