Kovacevic’s Milestone
It was a beautiful day for New York native Aleksandar Kovacevic on Thursday on Stadium 2. The World No. 72 scored a 7-6(6), 7-6(4) victory over Hubert Hurkacz for his first win in Tennis Paradise. Safe to say, it was a long time coming.
Kovacevic, who faces France’s Corentin Moutet in the second round, says his struggles at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden go back to his junior days.
“This is literally my favorite tournament, and I’ve never won a match here when it comes to pros, juniors, or anything,” Kovacevic said. “Qualifying, nothing. But I still always say I love coming here. It’s so fun. So it was nice to get through it today and extend my stay at least for a couple more days.”
Getting the win over former Top 10 talent made it even sweeter for the American.
“Obviously, I knew it was going to be tough,” Kovacevic said. “He’s a great player. I knew he was gonna make a lot of good serves and I would try to win a couple points in the tie breaks and hopefully get the win.”
Kovacevic, who squandered a pair of match points against Frances Tiafoe in the round of 16 at Acapulco last week, says winning the biggest points has been the missing ingredient for him of late. He was happy to turn the tide against the former World No. 6 (currently No. 71).
“That’s tennis. Sometimes you win matches that you’re not supposed to win and sometimes you lose matches you’re not supposed to lose, and last year I did lose a lot of matches that I felt like I should have won, and that could be something where I just need to improve, be a little better in the bigger moments,” he said.