by Bobby Knight | Sep 11, 2017 | Blog
Kevin Anderson had a tremendous two weeks at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center but unfortunately he came up short in the singles final falling to world No. 1 Rafael Nadal in three sets. The opening set stayed on serve through the first six service games, which included an Anderson hold in a six-deuce game, but Nadal would get the first break in a one-deuce game to go in front 4-3. After Nadal held from 40/15, he would break Anderson again to take the opening set 6-3 in 58 minutes. The second set started off with five straight holds until Nadal broke Anderson from 30/40 to take a 4-2 lead. Nadal would hold serve two more times to claim the...
by Bobby Knight | Sep 9, 2017 | Blog
If you are a fan of college tennis then Friday had to be a great day for you. The day started off with former UCLA All-American Jean-Julien Rojer and his doubles partner Horia Tecau winning the US Open Doubles Championship then later in the day former Illinois All-American Kevin Anderson became the first player with college ties to advance to a Grand Slam singles final since Todd Martin in 1999. In addition to those two great matches there were several other players with college ties playing in the US Open Juniors and American Collegiate Invitational which were also taking place at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Then to top if off...
by Bobby Knight | Sep 6, 2017 | Blog
For the first time since Todd Martin (Northwestern) at the 2000 US Open, we have a player with college ties in the semifinals at a grand slam. Former Illinois Fighting Illini Kevin Anderson (’05-’07) busted through the ceiling late Tuesday night with a tough four-set win over American Sam Querrey. Due to the Venus Williams/Petra Kvitova match running late, Anderson and Querrey didn’t take the court until almost 10:30 p.m. ET and by the time the match ended at 1:51 a.m. there was only around 2000 fans left in the almost 24000 seat Arthur Ashe Stadium. Anderson dictated play all night long with the 6 foot 8 inch South African crushing the...
by Bobby Knight | Sep 4, 2017 | Blog
Kevin Anderson, who spent three years at Illinois from 2005 to 2007, equaled his career-best result at a grand slam and moved into the quarterfinals at the 2017 US Open with a four-set win over Italy’s Paolo Lorenzi. Anderson broke Lorenzi once in each of the first two sets and after 1 hour and 14 minutes of play he led 6-4, 6-3. Lorenzi earned his first break of the match in the third set and despite Anderson breaking back Lorenzi would take the set in a tiebreak 7-4. In the fourth set, Lorenzi broke Anderson to go up 3-2 but Anderson broke back and held for 4-3. After a Lorenzi hold, Anderson would hold and then break to close it out 6-4, 6-3, 6-7,...
by Bobby Knight | Sep 2, 2017 | Blog
Kevin Anderson was one of Friday’s big winners at the US Open with the former Illini rolling into the fourth round with a sound straight set win over Croatia’s Borna Coric. The opening set was the closest of the three with Anderson only winning three more points than Coric but the South African cashed in his one break opportunity to close out the set 6-4.After not facing any break points in the first set, Anderson would face five in his 2-2 service game in the second set. Anderson managed to come all the way back from 0/40 down to get the hold and then three games later he’d break Coric from 30/40 to go up 5-3. Anderson held at love to take...
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