Kyle Kang Advances To Edwardsville Futures Final With Comeback Win
EDWARDSVILLE - Seventh seed Kyle Kang, from Orange County, Calif., and Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., took advantage of a pair of service breaks in the third and final set, and as a result, defeated Aiden Kim, of Milford, Mich,, but trains in Orlando, Fla., and attends Ohio State University, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to advance to the singles final of the 14th annual $25,000 Edwardsville Futures tennis tournament, presented by The EGHM Foundation, Saturday afternoon at the Edwardsville Tennis Center.
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Kang won a close, competitive match by taking advantage of various service breaks throughout, especially in the deciding third set, as he advanced to the final for the second consecutive year. Kang lost last year's final to Gavin Young 6-4, 6-3.
Kang said after the competition: "It was definitely a tough, match; it could have gone either way. I think our level's pretty good, and a pretty decent shout-out to the people who came to support us, and we had a lot of fun being out here."
Kang's strategy coming in was to look after his service, and try to take care of Kim's service, which he did very effectively.
"Obviously, he's a great server," Kang said of his opponent, "and I had to take care of my serve pretty well. So, I had a lot of focus on the first few points on my serve, then I kind of just really battled him on the returns, and tried to take all the chances I could get when I had the opportunity."
Kang did feel good about going to the final for the second year in a row, and he also thanked and encouraged the fans for their support of the tournament.
"Last year, I wasn't quite able to get it done, and I fell a little bit short," he said. "So, this year, I'm hoping to take it all the way. If you're out here, come out and support, and it's a lot of fun having you guys out here."
The first set started out with both players holding serve, with Kim going up 3-2, with Kang winning the first game of the match that went to deuce to tie the set at 4-4. Kim then won a second straight deuce game to go ahead 5-4, then broke Kang's serve to win the opening set 6-4, and take the lead in sets 1-0. In the second set, both players held early on, but Kang won a big point at 15-15, and went on to break Kim's serve for the first time in the match and go ahead 2-1. Kim later returned the favor and broke Kang's serve to tie the set 3-3, Kang broke through again to take a 5-3 lead, and went on to win the set 6-4 and force a deciding third set.
Kim got a brilliant drop shot in to help win the first game of the deciding set and go up 1-0, but Kang broke through Kim service to go ahead 2-1, then held his own serve to take a 3-1. lead. Both players then held service that allowed Kang to take a 5-3 lead, and in the final game of the match, Kang got to the second match point of the set in a deuce game, and Kim hit a shot that went long and out, allowing Kang to win the set 6-3, and the match 2-1, advancing to the final.
Kang will meet Aiden McHugh, a 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 winner over Marko Milandinovic in the second semifinal, in Sunday's final, starting at 11 a.m.
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