Cooking In Carson: Cook Tops No. 2 Dabul

Written by: Steve Pratt on 28th May 2010

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Cooking In Carson: Cook Tops No. 2 Dabul |

Feeling comfortable playing near his hometown and on his home surface, Lester Cook rocketed past No. 2 seeded Brian Dabul of Argentina, 7-6 (2), 6-4, to reach the quarterfinals of the LA Open Men’s $50,000 Challenger, a USTA pro circuit event, at the Home Depot Center on Thursday.

The 25-year-old Cook of Marina del Rey just returned last week from the red clay of Paris having lost in the first round of French Open qualifying. He said the first-time experience of playing the French may have actually helped his hardcourt game. “I think it did,” said the former three-time Texas A&M All-American. “It’s faster over there and you have to have more racket-speed on everything you hit. It just felt like things were a little slower out there today.”

Cook said he lost badly to the world’s No. 124-ranked player Dabul just three weeks ago on red clay in Sarasota.

“I tried to keep the ball low and keep it out of his strike zone,” said Cook, who next faces Alex Kuznetsov, the No. 6 seed, on Friday. “It ended up working out well for me.”

Cook also teamed with David Martin later in the day to advance to the semifinals in the doubles event as the pair lost just one game. The two make up the men’s portion of the Newport Beach Breakers World Team Tennis team that will play for three weeks in July. Cook last played WTT for Delaware and said he’s looking forward to this summer’s experience being near his home in Southern California .

“David and I played together last year and won a Challenger so that should make us that much better as a pairing this summer,” he said.

Just one day after losing its top-seeded player on the women’s side, the event lost its top-seeded player on the men’s side as unseeded Marinko Matosevic of Australia got past No. 1 Jesse Levine, 6-3, 6-4.

Fifteen-year-old qualifier Krista Hardebeck of Santa Ana , who upset top-seeded Sacha Jones on Wednesday, rallied again on Thursday to advance to the women’s quarterfinals with a, 2-6, 6-1, 6-1, win over 17-year-old Nicole Gibbs of Manhattan Beach .

Other American women moving onto the quarterfinals included CoCo Vandeweghe, Ahsha Rolle, Lindsay Lee-Waters, Asia Muhammad and Kristie Ahn.

For more information on the tournament, please log onto the website at www.usta.com/carsonchallenger.com.

Thursday’s Men’s Singles
Second Round

Marinko Matosevic (AUS) def. Jesse Levine ( USA ) [1] 6-3, 6-4
Lester Cook ( USA ) def. Brian Dabul (ARG) [2] 7-6(2), 6-4
Robert Kendrick ( USA ) [5] def. Victor Estrella (DOM) 7-6(5), 6-1
Alex Kuznetsov ( USA ) [6] def. Eric Nunez ( USA ) [Q] 6-0, 6-1

Doubles – Quarterfinals

Lester Cook ( USA ) / David Martin ( USA ) [2] def. Michael Ryderstedt (SWE) / Andreas Siljestrom (SWE) 6-1, 6-0
Artem Sitak (RUS) / Leonardo Tavares (POR) def. Treat Huey (PHI) / Izak Van Der Merwe (RSA) [3] 7-5, 7-6(3)
Samuel Groth (AUS) / Harsh Mankad ( IND ) [4] def. Brett Joelson ( USA ) / Tim Smyczek ( USA ) 6-3, 6-4
Brian Battistone ( USA ) / Nick Monroe ( USA ) def. Greg Ouellette ( USA ) / Donald Young ( USA ) [WC] 6-3, 6-0

Thursday’s Women’s Singles

Coco Vandeweghe ( USA ) def. Tetiana Luzhanska (UKR) 5-7, 6-3, 6-0
Petra Rampre (SLO) def. Elizabeth Lumpkin ( USA ) 3-6, 6-2, 6-1
Alina Jidkova (RUS) def. Kimberly Couts ( USA ) 7-5, 6-4
Ahsha Rolle ( USA ) def. Mirjana Lucic (CRO) [4] 6-0, 3-0 Ret.
Lindsay Lee-Waters ( USA ) def. Lena Litvak ( USA ) [7] 6-0, 6-1
Asia Muhammad ( USA ) def. Brittany Augustine ( USA ) 6-3, 6-4
Krista Hardebeck ( USA ) def. Nicole Gibbs ( USA ) 2-6, 6-1, 6-1
Kristie Ahn ( USA ) def. Olga Puchkova (RUS) 6-2, 6-0

Doubles

Lindsay Lee-Waters ( USA ) / Megan Moulton-Levy [2] def. Kimberly Couts ( USA ) / Tetiana Luzhanska (UKR) 6-2, 6-4
Christina Fusano ( USA ) / Courtney Nagle ( USA ) [4] def. Ana-Clara Duarte (BRA) / Lena Litvak ( USA ) 6-3, 6-1
Ivana Lisjak (CRO) / Asia Muhammad ( USA ) def. Kristie Ahn ( USA ) / Nicole Gibbs ( USA ) 6-4, 6-1
Brittany Augustine ( USA ) / Jennifer Elie ( USA ) def. Julie Ditty ( USA ) / Alina Jidkova (RUS) [1] 6-1, 6-4

ORDER OF PLAY – FRIDAY
CENTER COURT start 11 am

[6] A Kuznetsov (USA) vs L Cook (USA)
[Q] K Hardebeck (USA) vs C Vandeweghe (USA)
T Smyczek (USA) vs [4] D Young (USA)
Semifinal – A Sitak (RUS) / L Tavares (POR) vs [2] L Cook (USA) / D Martin (USA)

COURT 5 start 11 am
K Ahn (USA) vs A Rolle (USA)
A Muhammed (USA) vs P Rampre (SLO)
M Matosevic (AUS) vs [5] R Kendrick (USA)
Semifinal – I Lisjak (CRO) / A Muhammed ( USA ) vs [2] L Lee-Waters (USA) / M Moulton-Levy (USA)

COURT 3 start 11 am
A Jidkova (RUS) vs [7] L Lee-Waters (USA)
[LL] D Kelly (AUS) vs [8] P Polansky (CAN)
Semifinal B Augustine (USA) / J Elie (USA) vs [4] C Fusano (USA) / C Nagle (USA)
Semifinal – B Battistone (USA) / N Monroe (USA) vs [4] S Groth (AUS) / H Mankad (IND)

Topics: Alex Kuznetsov, Beach Breakers, Challenger, First Time Experience, French Open, Home Depot, Home Depot Center, Lester Cook, Marina Del Rey, Newport Beach, Open Men, Quarterfinals, Ranked Player, Red Clay, Sacha Jones, Seeded Player, Strike Zone, Tennis Team, World Team Tennis, Wtt