2011 French Open: Tobias Kamke registers victory against Olivier Rochus in opening matchup
World number 76, Tobias Kamke of Germany, stood victorious against the 77th ranked Belgian, Olivier Rochus in the first round of Roland Garros in Paris, France, on Monday. The German took two hours and fifty one minutes
before he outplayed his opponent at 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-3, 6-2, to qualify for the next stage of the Grand Slam event.
It was first time that these competitors faced each other in a singles matchup and Kamke proved to be the superior of the two. He stumbled in the opening set, giving opportunity to the Belgian opponent to nab the early advantage
in the contest but the German bounced back with authority in the following two sets to stun every one.
Although Kamke’s serve was not as precise as his opponent’s, he reeled most of the points on his serve. The German delivered merely 53 per cent first serve on target, firing 14 cracking aces and secured 47 of 69 points on it. He
constructed 18 opportunities to break the Belgian serve and was successful eight times en route to victory.
The Belgian competitor beat Kamke in some segments of the game but failed to bag crucial points, an ability very well exhibited by the German. His 64 per cent accurate first serve earned him 52 point, while he delivered 37 assertive
winners to the opponent’s court.
Kamke’s unforced errors amounted to 32 while Rochus conceded just 23 in the entire contest, which also included four double faults as well. The Belgian got to flying start to the opening set and broke his opponent early to lead
3-2 but the aggressive Kamke immediately retaliated with a serve break to nullify his advantage.
A routine game from the two players took the score to 6-6 and a mandatory tie breaker round was enforced. Kamke missed a couple of easy opportunities in the decider the first set fell to Belgian’s name at 7-6(5).
Rest of the contest all belonged to the German, as he absolutely dominated his opponent in the last three sets to eject him out of Roland Garros. Kamke lost 8 out of the next 18 games being played in the contest and stung a total
of seven serve breaks to seal victory. The German makes his way to the second round of the French Open after defeating Rochus and will square off against the world number 15, Viktor Troicki of Serbia.
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