The past four months have been more successful than any other period of Stefan Kozlov's budding professional career.
Heading into this week's Baptist Health Bolo Bash, a Futures event on the USTA men's Pro Circuit, Kozlov had won two Futures singles tournaments and had advanced to the final of a Challenger event since the beginning of January. The Challenger series is considered a notch above a Futures event in competition and quality.
Friday’s results
SINGLES SEMIFINALS
(3) Stefan Kozlov def. (2) Tennys Sandgren, 6-1, 6-4
(5) Eric Quigley def. Dennis Nevolo, 6-3, 6-1
TODAY’S FINALS
SINGLES
Kozlov vs. Quigley, 1 p.m.
DOUBLES
Ryan Lipman/Tennys Sandgren vs. Nick Chappell/Dane Webb, noon
NOTE The singles final will not start until the completion of the doubles final
Does the success, which helped his ATP World Tour ranking jumped from 351 on Jan. 1 to 225 by Saturday, build confidence?
"It helps," the 18-year-old from Pembroke Pines, Fla., said Saturday. "But not that much."
He's done as much as he can so far this week to keep the momentum going, knocking off No. 2 seed Tennys Sandgren on Saturday 6-1, 6-4 in the semifinals at Rebsamen Tennis Center.
The No. 3 seed Kozlov will play No. 5 seed Eric Quigley in today's singles finals with a chance at his fourth Futures title, all of which have come since winning his first in October in Belarus. He won a singles title in January in Los Angeles and another in March in Canada.
It's a successful stretch for the Macedonian-born right-hander who once was ranked the No. 2 junior player in the world.
"I'm serving well, I'm moving well, my fitness has improved," Kozlov said. "I'm playing smarter now. I've been a little lucky, too."
Good fortune didn't seem necessary in Saturday's semifinal against Sandgren, a 24-year-old who won the Little Rock stop on the USTA's Pro Circuit in 2012, which was then played under a different name and at a different location.
Kozlov won the first eight points of Saturday's match to easily win the first set 6-1 in about 30 minutes. He was on his way to an easy victory in the second set with a 5-1 lead before Sandgren twice fought off match points to close the gap to 5-4, but Kozlov finally closed out the victory in just over an hour.
It was Kozlov's second victory in a few months over Sandgren, who entered the tournament ranked 281 in the world. In January, Kozlov beat Sandgren 6-1, 6-1 in the semifinals on his way to a victory in Los Angeles. Sandgren was looking to reach the finals of his second consecutive event after losing in the finals last week in Memphis.
"I took some of the patterns I played, and I remembered the match a little bit," Kozlov said. "Today was different, but yeah, it helps having played a guy before."
Kozlov said he wasn't bothered by another weather delay Saturday. Quarterfinal matches were delayed about five hours Friday, then early morning rain pushed Saturday's start time from 11 a.m. to about 12:45 p.m.
"It's tough for everyone," Kozlov said. "It's cold and it's windy, and it's tough on everyone."
The forecast calls for clear skies today as Kozlov tries to finish off another Futures title. Then, win or lose, he's on to a Challenger event in Savannah, Ga., then to one in Europe before attempting to qualify for the French Open with intentions of keeping his work ranking on an upswing.
"Just trying to get better and have fun," he said.
Sports on 04/17/2016