Three very interesting matches today at the Sarasota Open qualifying tournament. First on stadium featured the future UCLA Bruin and local Kaylan Bigun, who scored his first ATP match win 76 76 vs. Bogdan Bobrov from Russia. Bigun was a top 20 junior, a lefty with a slight edge in fire power that seemed the difference maker. Bobrov’s appearance was more striking though, he looked like a winner of a Torben Ulrich lookalike contest with the long blonde hair and Viking beard. I had never heard of Bobrov or even seen his name but he’s ranked 399 (best was 361 in December 2023) and 26 years old. The way he looks now is nothing like his ATP profile photo with short hair and no beard. Wildcard Bigun is 17 years old and ranked 1488, he doesn’t even have an ATP profile photo. We’ll see if Bigun can be this year’s Alex Michelsen, who suddenly got hot last year and ended up canceling his college career at Georgia because he shot up the rankings so fast. Bigun is an impressive prospect and on his way now.
Then the second match on Nick Bollettieri Stadium matched Stefan Kozlov vs Arthur Gea of France. Kozlov is 26 now and ranked 597, while Gea is 19 and ranked 394 and he’s coached by Tarik Benhabiles. Kozlov recently switched from Babolat to a Yonex 98 and clearly has more oomph on his shots, especially the forehand. I know this because he asked me to hand feed him some balls yesterday in practice and his shots sounded like a Major League Baseball batting practice. Today Kozlov struck for several stunning forehand winners in the hard fought 64 76 win. Another highlight was in the first set, Kozlov, who likes to play with emotional animation and fist pumps, said to me after a point, “Let’s go Scoop.” I was his main face in the crowd to connect with, we’ve been friends for a decade, until Tennys Sandgren showed up with his wife and then Kozlov directed all his fist pumps and eye contact to his American tennis buddy. Sandgren would say a gentle Cmon Koz, very lightly at certain moments and today it all worked, Kozlov got a nice win by overcoming some adversity. It was a high quality match and a thriller with both players in fine form. Another note, I can’t remember the last time I saw an American player watching and supporting another American player in the crowd, nice to see this American unity.
Matija Pecotic looked like a prime Rafael Nadal in hammering Preston Brown 60 62, a left clay beast, grunting and growling and just powerhousing the kid ruthlessly. Brown was his two games from being down 06 05, to his credit. After the match Pecotic noted that he felt Brown, a giant lefty with a huge serve didn’t exploit his weapons. “How many times did he serve and volley? None. How many times did he hit a shot and come to net to scare me? None. How many times did he hit a return and come in? None. I thought it was going to be a tough match like two close sets, with his serve but he just stayed back at the baseline, then I saw his backhand (was beatable) and then I saw some things. It was a brilliant display by the 34 year old, who famously beat Jack Sock last year in Delray Beach.
Then the last match was Kyle Edmund, making his return after three knee operations, vs. Gerald Melzer, the veteran lefty from Austria. Edmund is 29 now and 421, he’s won two ATP titles. Melzer is 33 and ranked 563. The two played twice before, in 2013 at a Futures in USA on clay, Melzer won 62 63. They also played at French Open qualies in 2015 and Edmund won that one 36 62 64. Today, it was all Edmund, who looked like the top 15 player he was back in 2018. The awesome baseline striking from both sides and the movement was excellent, he chased down several Melzer drop shots and was able to convert them successfully. I chatted with Melzer earlier in the day as he watched Kokkinakis practice, he follows boxing and he’s quite knowledgeable on the top British fighters like Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, Ben Whitakers, and even a few I don’t know much about Batsui, Catterall and Taylor.
Some famous faces were in the crowd today enjoying the action – Wayne Ferreira who is now coaching Yibing Wu, who had to pull out with an injury, and Max Mirnyi with his two sons. Also Joel Josef Schwaerzler who is into the main draw due to his high junior ranking (he will play here, Tallahassee and Savannah) he’s ranked 589 in ATP and no. 1 in ITF juniors. The 18 year old lefty will play Tristan Boyer in the first round. I saw next to JJ during the Melzer vs Edmund match. Like Melzer and Thomas Muster, Schwaerzler is a lefty and he’s coached by Jurgen Melzer, another Austrian lefty. Schwaerzler said he has no clothing or shoe contract yet.
Today I did Biofile interviews with Max Damm and Joel Josef Schwaerzler.
Bogdan Bobrov · Joel Josef Schwaerzler · Kyle Edmund · Matija Pecotic · Sarasota Open · Stefan Kozlov · Wayne Ferreira
Cory · April 7, 2024 at 9:22 pm
Excellent reporting – thx – I’ve seen Bobrov play in a few challengers. What do you know about Felix Corwin? He’s been banging around ITF for years, occasionally the challengers when ranking allows. Did you get to ask Sandgren why he’s not playing this tourney? Surprising.
Hopefully Kozlov can make a run here.
Matt Segel · April 8, 2024 at 6:05 am
Shelton in the winner circle… this strikes me as racist and ridiculous.
“You’ve been such an inspiration to kids, people of colour in our sport, just an amazing representation,” Shelton said. “You’ve been that guy to always put on for us and always be selfless, thinking about others, kids younger than you. So thanks for everything that you do for our sport and people who look like you and me.”
Scoop Malinowski · April 8, 2024 at 8:10 am
Thanks Cory, I know Felix Corwin by name seeing him in the results but nothing more, I will watch him today. Tennys is playing today, I didn’t talk much with him just after the match said, because he was sitting in the general admission gallery, “Tennys, ATP champions like you are supposed to sit in the VIP side over there not here.” He just smiled. Wish I took a photo of him though he was sporting a very cool white Muhammad Ali Tshirt. Koz has a match up today vs a Romanian I never heard. Keep an eye on Joel Schwaerzler who reminds of a lefty Safin, big physical beast of a player, coached by Jurgen Melzer for two years. Looks like Safin too.
Scoop Malinowski · April 8, 2024 at 8:14 am
Matt, like you I’ve had enough of this “people who look like us” it’s divisive and like code for pitting black against whitey. BJ King needs to lecture these blacks about equality. Shelton is a fake black, he looks 100 percent white actually. Hope they don’t start pushing any BLM politics. If these blacks continue to push the subtle black politics it could result in loss of ticket sales and sponsor revenues. Non blacks don’t like it.
Scoop Malinowski · April 8, 2024 at 8:58 pm
Got Biofile interviews today with Thanasi Kokkinakis, Bogdan Bobrev and Toby Kodat and you’re going to love them. Sandgren was 0-3 career vs Kwiatkowski but got the job done today after losing the first set. Kozlov was brilliant in beating a tough Romanian who played at Baylor U, winning a hard fought war 64 76. Very high level tennis. Another interesting duel was Pecotic beating Campana Lee 64 61. Lee had two coaches who offered nothing during the match while Pecotic was alone and a fan named Wallace and his son Phil, actually gave more help, support and even some tactics, incredible. I might have to do a story on this. Pecotic looked like Rafa Nadal, brutal intensity, heavy lefty forehands, grunting and growling. Another great day at Sarasota Open.