Alexios Halebian downs Michael Bois in the opening round of Boys’ singles – French Open 2011
Sixteen-year-old American competitor, Alexios Halebian won his opening round clash against Michael Bios of France in the Boys’ category of Roland Garros on Sunday. Halebian took one hour and forty six minutes of play to wrap up
the three-set thriller 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, to advance to the next stage of the Grand Slam event in Paris, France.
Halebian crashed the local’s hopes in the opening round with his brilliant clay-court tennis skills to continue his voyage in the mega event. The American teenager displayed tremendous character and resilience to take on the immense
pressure situations of the match after having an unnecessarily sloppy start. He dropped the first set in the opening 39 minutes but made a magnificent recovery in the later parts of the game to finally come out as the winner in the end.
The French was off to a flyer, bagging the opener to put early pressure upon his competitor but gradually lost his steam as the contest progressed. He was detracted in the second set of the matchup and let Halebian bounce back
hard at him to level the contest at 1-1. The American then carried on his winning momentum to take down Bois in the decisive set to register a convincing victory in the opening round of the French Open.
Both contestants delivered their first serve at round about 60 per cent mark but the American made the most out of his serve. Halebian secured 43 out of 55 first serve points in the contest, while firing seven thudding aces and
conceding four double faults. His forehand worked to perfection for him, as he belted plenty of winners down the line to drown his opponent in the contest.
Halebian had a sluggish start to the contest and dropped his serve early in the opener to fall on his back foot. He replied Bois with a break point but the French stung his second serve break of the day to seal the first set at
6-4.
Tide turned in the very next set, as the American took down Bois by belting a timely serve break to wind up the second set at 6-3. Halebian faced no difficulty in concluding victory in the third set, breaking to win the match at
6-6 and book a date with the Croatian opponent, Mate Delic, in the second round of Roland Garros. Delic was victorious against the ninth seed, George Morgan of Great Britain, in the opening round of the tournament.
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