Adrian Mannarino stuns Igor Kunitsyn in the second round – Istanbul Challenger 2012
Seeded sixth, Igor Kunitsyn, received a shocker at the hands of the Frenchman, Adrian Mannarino, in the second round of the American Express ATP Challenger held at the hard courts of Istanbul, in Turkey. The
French professional summed up his 6-0, 4-6, 6-2 triumph in a total of one hour and 42 minutes.
The two contestants have encountered each other for the second time at the hard courts of Turkey. Previously Mannarino gave a straight sets upset, 6-4, 6-4 to his Russian challenger in the year 2010, and clamped
away his 2-0 lead in the head-to-head series.
The 30-year-old, Kunitsyn, was unable to uphold his serve the entire time in the opener. The Frenchman progressed forward without much resistance and clinched the opportunity to secure his lead in the set. The
Russian contender seemed powerless in front of his rival’s serves, who adopted an agile game plan to secure a 6-0 score.
Ranked 151st in the ATP World Tour Rankings, Kunitsyn displayed 55 percent first serve accuracy but could only convert five of 11 first and one of nine second deliveries. In response to
this, Mannarino had a lower initial serve precision of 50 percent but he remarkably capitalized all of the seven points on the first and five out of seven in the second delivery points.
The second set proved to be a tougher challenge for the left-hander Frenchman. He was unable to hold his initial serve and resultantly his confidence died down. The Russian expert picked momentum and grabbed
hold of the opportunity to mark his 3-love lead. The major part of the set dominated by Kunitsyn and by the middle managed to lead the score line by 4-2. However, the French professional struggled hard but he was powerless and failed to strike a single win
and after a rough encounter, he bestowed the set to his rival by a 4-6 loss.
In the decider, the momentum of the game shifted back to the 24-year-old French. He busted his rival’s first serve and successfully bagged away the initial two games. He subjugated his opponent entire time in
the set and nudged forward to clinch the last three games, marking the set closure with his 6-2 win.
Mannarino fired three aces against the higher ranked Russian and displayed a higher initial serve accuracy of 57 percent. He was able to sustain his lead by clamping 11 of 13 first serve points. On the other
hand, the right-hander Russian had an average first serve of 50 percent and merely pocketed eight of 12 points on his first serve.
For the next round, the French professional will battle against the Spanish, Adrian Menendez-Maceiras. He rallied past the Aussie, Brydan Klein in the previous round of the Challenger.
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