At the beginning of February this year, Kazakhstan tennis team celebrated another sweet victory. Â Its players progressed to the quarterfinals of the World Group stage of 2018 Davis Cup competition. The President of the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation, Bulat Utemuratov, was happy to congratulate the players who took gold from Switzerland and become unconquered for the fifth year in a raw.
Bulat Utemuratov has been managing the Kazakhstani Tennis Federation for eleven years. Â One of his first achievements in this chair was creating the team of players for competing in the Davis Cup. From that moment on, he has put a lot of personal efforts and money into developing this team into high-class professionals who can win against the world’s strongest tennis players. This year, we all were able to witness the results of his hard work when the Team Kazakhstan made an incredible breakthrough by taking the first place in quarterfinals of such a prestigious tournament.
The success of Kazakhstani team could be predicted right from the first competition day when its players won three matches, and thus earned the right to participate in the quarterfinals of 2018 Davis Cup. Dmitry Popko played against the captain of the Swiss team, Henry Laaksonen, and made us a little worried during the first set (the score of 3–6). However, he managed to take revenge in the next three sets and beat the opponent with glorious 6–3, 6–2, 6–3.
Then Mikhail Kukushkin came into play. This 30-years-old tennis star played against 7-years-younger Adrian Bodmer, a representative of the Swiss team. In this case, the results of the match were pretty obvious. Experienced Kukushkin quickly took over the initiative and crushed the opponent: 3–6, 6–3, 6–2, 6–3.
The last and the most important match of the day was the doubles. It had to determine the destiny of both teams. Timur Khabibulin and Alexander Nedovesov were put against the duo from Switzerland, Luca Margaroli, and Mark Hoesler. This game was really tense. During the first two sets, Kazakhstani players successfully dominated Swiss opponents (6–4 and 6–4). However, Margaroli and Hoesler managed to win the third and fourth sets (6–3, 7–6). The fifth and final set helped to prove the supremacy of our players. They defeated opponents with triumphant 6–3.
Another outstanding player who brought victory to Team Kazakhstan was Dmitry Popko. He crushed Adrian Bodmer with 7–6, 1–6, 7–5. As a result, Bulat Utemuratov and his team succeeded in showing the world the strength of Kazakhstani tennis. We are anxiously looking forward to the next matches, which are scheduled for April this year.