Skill & Experience not enough against this kind of Energy and Brawn!
Harmon Park, By Steve England ESVN - Fair and Balanced: The Defending Champ and SV have met on the battle field four times in the past three seasons. The Champ fell to SV twice back in 2011 (once in the rain), but easily dispatched SV in their 2012 encounter! Sopcic didn't even lose a set as he went on to win the 2012 Championship! The Defending Champ is certainly the man to beat this year! With decisive victories over Dynasty Champ-JT, and today's straight-set victory over former Two-Time Champion-SV, Sopcic is looking unstoppable again!
In today's battle with the defending champ, SV occasionally was able to work Sopcic wide to open the court, but had mixed results when attempting to hit the winner. Frequently Sopcic would still reach the ball, and return it into play with enough velocity to make it difficult to hit a winner off his return! SV's serve and volley approach was mostly neutralized by Sopcic's effective lobbing. This caused SV to expend considerable energy - tiring SV for several points afterwards. When SV punished Sopcic on his weaker second-serve, Sopcic made strategic adjustments targeting SV's backhand! This tactic proved successful, and neutralized yet another weapon SV was using to stay competitive. With effective adjustments, and superior fitness - the champ countered every advance SV made, and achieved victory with only moderate difficulty. Sopcic defeats SV 6-4,6-3.
