Dadamo has Impressive Pro Tennis Debut
Jun 30, 2011 | Men's Tennis
June 30, 2011
INDIAN HARBOUR BEACH, FLORIDA - Texas A&M two-time All-American Jeff Dadamo (pronounced duh-DOME-oh) put together an impressive run in his first pro tennis tournament to reach the finals in singles play at the MIMA Foundation USTA Pro Tennis Classic held at the Kiwi Tennis Club in Indian Harbour Beach, Florida, earlier this week.
Dadamo opened in the qualifying draw and swept through four matches. Dadamo beat Tony Wilkey (6-1, 6-0), Brandon Donaldson (6-3, 6-3) and C.J. Johnson (6-0, 6-2) in straight sets. In the finals of the qualifying draw, he beat Jose Hernandez, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to advance to the main draw.
In Dadamo's opening match in the main draw he beat Haydn Lewis from Barbados, 6-1, 6-4. Lewis is ranked 448 in the world rankings. Dadamo would defeat American Spencer Newman, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 and then faced the No. 3 seed of the tournament field, Robbye Poole. Poole is ranked 426 in the world and played collegiate tennis at Ole Miss.
In the semifinals, Dadamo faced the No. 8 seed, Ty Trombetta, and swept the American, 6-2, 7-6 (5) to reach the finals of the tournament.
Dadamo's ninth match of the week came in the finals as he faced another American, Jesse Levine, who was the No. 1 seed in the pro tournament. Levine, who played at the No. 1 line for the University of Florida in 2007 and posted a 24-1 mark that spring before turning pro, reached the third round at Wimbledon in 2009.
Dadamo broke Levine's serve to tie the match at 4-4 in the first set, but Levine was able to break back and then closed out the first set on his serve, 6-4. Dadamo had to bounce back from a break in the second set and tied the match at 3-3 before Levine broke back and took the second set, 6-4.
“Jeff's a great player,” Levine said. “He hits the ball real hard and he was coming up with some big shots. This was my first tournament back in a long time (due to injuries) but I stayed solid and stayed strong and was lucky enough to close it out.”
“Jesse is a really solid player,” Dadamo said. “He's going to put a lot of balls on the court. And he's definitely played at a very high level, so he knows a lot about the game. He's pretty comfortable with what he's doing on the court. I knew he wasn't going to give me the match by any means. I took my chances but just came up a bit short today.”
Considering this was Dadamo's first pro tournament since he finished his collegiate career at Texas A&M, Dadamo had to be pleased.
“If I had to lose to anyone, I guess it would be Jesse,” Dadamo said. “He's played a lot of matches and he's a good opponent for me to play in a final and to also gain some experience. Hopefully, I learned from him and I can build on this experience at the next couple of tournaments.”
Earlier this spring, Dadamo and his All-American teammate Austin Krajicek (pronounced CRY-check) won the NCAA men's doubles championship and helped the Aggie men's tennis team to the best record in school history with a 29-6 dual match record as the Aggies reached the Sweet 16 in the NCAA team championships. Dadamo was All-Big 12 at the No. 2 line in singles and was named the Most Outstanding Player at the Big 12 Championship Tournament where he did not drop a set in either singles or doubles as he helped the Aggies win the team championship in Waco. Dadamo posted the most singles dual victories on the team this spring with a 23-4 record.
Dadamo's Aggie teammate Krajicek also played in the pro tournament and was seeded No. 7 in the field. Krajicek defeated Patrick Daciek in the opening round, 6-4, 2-6, 6-1, and then beat Tennessee All-American Tennys Sandgren in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1. Krajicek dropped his quarterfinal match against eventual champion and top seed, Levine, 6-3, 6-1.
