TENNIS SCORES. Joao Sousa topples Kukushkin in the quarter in St. Petersburg

ST. PETERSBURG OPEN - ST. PETERSBURG. Sousa aces Kukushkin to take on Borna Coric in the semifinal

By
Luke Meyer
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Prediction and head to head Joao Sousa vs. Mikhail Kukushkin

Joao Sousa victorious over Mikhail Kukushkin 7-68 6-2 in the quarter in St. Petersburg on Friday. Sousa will face off with Borna Coric in the semifinal.

Score, report, and key facts

1st set.

Neither player conceded a service game during this set. Therefore the affair had to be decided at the tiebreak. Finally, Sousa won the breaker at 8.

2nd set.

Sousa had a favorable start in this set after breaking Kukushkin in the 1st game (1-0). That was enough for Sousa to win the set (6-2) as there were no other breaks.

A crucial moment of the match was when the Portuguese won 4 consecutive games in the 2nd set to change the scoreline from 0-0 to 6-2.

Statistics

At the end of the match, Joao scored 83 points vs. Kukushkin’s 72 points.

Sousa served very well to win 75% of the points (41/55) behind his first serve. Anyhow he won only 45% points (10/22) on his second serve. Joao blasted 10 aces without committing any double fault. The Portuguese was pretty focused in converting 50% of the break points that he procured (2/4). On the other side, Kukushkin wasn’t able to conquer any break point (0/4). That was one of the key issues for his demise.

After this match, the head to head between Sousa and Kukushkin is 2-2.

Next Match: Joao Sousa vs. Borna Coric – stats

Sousa will take on Coric in the semifinal.

This will be the 2nd time that Joao Sousa and Borna Coric play each other. The head to head is 1-0 for Coric (see full H2H stats), but they have never competed against each other on I.hard.

The last time that they squared off, Coric won 7-64 5-7 7-64 in the 2nd round in Halle back in June 2019.

Tennis Scores in St. Petersburg

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