It’s fair to say the the home contingent did not have the best of runs in the Indian Wells Masters 1000 event. With that tournament still ongoing, no American man remained involved beyond Sam Querrey as the US’ lone representative in the last eight.
Americans have instead been forced to turn to the Challenger circuit as they await the draw for the Miami Masters next week.
In Drummondville, Canada, Denis Kudla has played his way into the final with wins over Antoine Escoffier, Joris De Loore, Jared Hiltzik, and Brayden Schnur. He will face France’s Benjamin Bonzi, who shocked top seed Vasek Pospisil 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 to reach his first Challenger final.
Kudla meanwhile, is a veteran of Challengers, having played in eleven finals (5-6 record.)
In Irving, Steve Johnson found form in reaching the semi-finals. The 28 year-old dropped just six games in defeating Lukas Lacko and Alex De Minaur to reach the last four. He was then beaten by Mikhail Kukushkin 6-4, 7-6, but it still represented a good week for the American. In reaching the final Kukushkin matches his record from last year, and has the chance to go one better in 2018. He had lost to Aljaz Bedene in the final in 2017.
Kukushkin will face Italian Matteo Berrettini, who defeated Marton Fucsovics. History is on the line for Berrettini, as he will likely move into the Top 100 for the first time next week regardless of the result in the final.
