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Thai-Son Kwiatkowski Rolls To All-American Singles & Doubles Championship

by | Oct 12, 2015 | Blog

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Virginia’s Thai-Son Kwiatkowski is the 2015 Saint Francis Health System ITA Men’s All-American Singles Champion after routing Tulane’s Dominik Koepfer 6-0, 6-2 in the finals in a match that took around 55 minutes to complete.

Kwiatkowski was in control from start to finish by working Koepfer from side-to-side and more points than not ended with a Koepfer miss with many coming off the forehand wing. Kwiatkowski played great defense but also hit some huge forehands to finish off several games.

3 of Koepfer’s 7 service games went to the deciding 40-40 point and he lost all 3. Koepfer struggled at the net and lost 3 different games on a volley that he either mishit or didn’t place well enough.

Match Flow:

1st Set:
TSK held from 40-30 for a 1-0 lead (missed most of this game)
TSK broke from 40-40 for a 2-0 lead. DK hit a decent drop volley at the net that landed on the left sideline but TSK came all the way from the right sideline (almost at the baseline) to hit a crosscourt forehand winner.
TSK held from 40-40 for a 3-0 lead. DK was in control of the point and came to the net to finish but he mishit a volley that sat up in the middle of the court and TSK slapped a forehand winner.
TSK broke from 0-40 for a 4-0 lead. DK double faulted on break point.
TSK held from 40-40 for a 5-0 lead. TSK hit a service winner on the deciding point.
TSK broke from 0-40 for a 6-0 first set. DK was an error machine looking to get the set over with so he could regroup for the 2nd set.
Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (UVA) 6-0

2nd Set:
TSK held from 40-15 for a 1-0 lead. DK led 0-15 then TSK won 4 straight.
TSK broke from 40-40 for a 2-0 lead. DK led 40-15 then went wide on a forehand and then TSK hit a forehand winner. On the deciding point DK went long on a forehand.
TSK held from 40-15 for a 3-0 lead. DK went for a backhand winner on the 40-15 point but just missed. Only point TSK dropped in the game was off a double fault.
DK held from 40-15 to make it 3-1 TSK. DK hit back-to-back forehand winners to get the hold.
TSK held from 40-15 for a 4-1 lead. TSK served and volleyed on the 15-15 point and did a nice job picking up a volley at his feet. DK then mishit a volley at the net and TSK finished with a forehand winner. TSK hit a service winner for the hold.
TSK broke from 40-40 for a 5-1 lead. DK hit a volley winner to go up 40-30 but then went wide on a forehand to make it 40-40. DK came in but couldn’t pick up the short hop and the ball landed in the bottom of the net.
DK broke from 15-40 to make it 5-2 TSK. TSK tried to service and volley on the 15-40 point but he put a low volley into the middle of the net.
TSK broke from 15-40 for a 6-2 set and win. TSK hit a big forehand on match point that DK couldn’t get back.
Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (UVA) 6-2

Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (UVA) 6-0, 6-2

Note: Kwiatkowski came into the All-Americans with the highest Universal Tennis Rating (UTR) at 14.62 and had UTRs been used for seeding he would have been the #1 seed.

After a short rest Kwiatkowski returned to the court to play in the doubles final with Mac Styslinger against North Carolina’s Robert Kelly and Brett Clark.  The North Carolina duo took the opening set 6-3 after falling behind 3-1 but Virginia’s pair rallied to take the second set 6-2. They played a 10 point tiebreak in lieu of a third set and it was Kwiatkowski and Styslinger taking it 10-7 to take home the Championship 3-6, 6-2, 1-0(7).

Kwiatkowski becomes the first player to win both the singles and doubles titles in the same year since Tennessee’s JP Smith did it back in 2009.

Ohio State’s Mikael Torpegaard won the consolation singles draw by defeating conference rival Sam Shroprshire (Northwestern) 6-4, 6-4.