Aljaz Bedene upsets Daniel Gimeno-Traver in final qualies – Erste Bank Open 2011
Slovene Aljaz Bedene showed up brilliant skills to stun the qualifying third seed, Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain in straight sets at the Erste Open 2011, an ATP World Tour 250 series event taking place at the Wiener Stadthalle
in Vienna, Austria, since 1974. He fended off late resistance to register a 6-4, 7-6(4) victory over the Valencia native, Traver to book a spot in the main draw on Monday.
Ranked 204th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour rankings, Bedene stomped over the Spaniard, ranked 110 places above him, by converting the only breakpoint opportunity founded in the match to his advantage. The
Slovene not only surprised everyone but also secured a main draw place in this hard court event.
Bedene high spiritedly entered Vienna’s indoor hard courts and cruised to bag entire serves with exquisite forehands and backhands from his arsenal of skills. He then cashed in the only breakpoint chance to his advantage in the
end to clinch the opener with a 6-4 score line.
The Slovene clobbered a lower first serve share of 62 percent as compared to the Spaniard’s 70 percent but registered a spectacular 81 percent win on it.
22-year-old Slovene carried his winning ways in the final set as he fished out easy points to keep entire serves. He faced zero breakpoint but failed to find any breakpoint opportunity. Thus the set went to a tie-breaker where
the Slovene prevailed to pocket the set with a 7-6(4) success.
Bedene manipulated a much better first serve share of 75 percent as compared to Traver’s 51 percent and registered an exceptional 93 percent win on it.
Next up for the Slovene is the Croat Ivo Karlovic in the first round.
Qualifying fourth seed, Steve Darcis of Belgium faced a different fate as he will join Bedene in the main draw.
Darcis trashed his compatriot, Maxime Authom in straight sets on their first meeting to advance.
The seeded Belgian confidently plucked in entire serves in the opening set and then clinched it by breaking Authom’s serve in the eighth game. He saved the only breakpoint faced and converted one out of three breakpoint opportunities
to his advantage to register a 6-3 score line.
After the lower ranked Belgium held his serve in the opening game, Darcis unleashed flurry of groundstrokes to reel off next five games in a row. The delighted Belgian then held his serve in the eighth game to seal the victory
with a 6-2 score.
Tags: