Andreas Seppi battles past Gael Monfils in the semi-finals – Moselle Open 2012
Ranked 28th in the ATP World Tour Rankings, Andreas Seppi confidently qualified for the final of the Moselle Open held at the hard courts of Metz, France. He rallied past the local challenger,
Gael Monfils, in the semi-finals and summed up his 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 victory on Saturday.
The duo encountered each other for the fifth time and the Italian senior surprised his rival by winning the match for the first time. Monfils dominates the head-to-head series by a 4-1 lead and previously he
had prevailed over Seppi in the second round of AIG Japan Open Tennis Championships in the year 2010 held at the hard courts of Tokyo.
The 26-year-old local held his first serve in the opener and confidently drew the first blood. In the fourth game, the score line evened out to 2-all but Seppi was unable to attain any lead. Monfils broke busted
his rival’s serve in the sixth game, clinched a 4-2 lead. The Italian completely proved insignificant and the Frenchman accomplished the set with a 6-3 score.
The former world number seventh, Monfils, displayed an average initial serve accuracy of 68 percent but remarkably converted 16 of 17 first serve points but four of eight second delivery points. His rival maintained
a constant initial serve accuracy of 71 percent, bagging away 11 of 17 points.
In the second set, the momentum of the game shifted and the higher ranked Italian participant started to capsize the winning order. He secured the lead by breaking his rival’s serve in the fourth game and towered
the scoreboard with a 3-1 lead. This time around, Monfils utterly lost his confidence was unable to counter the pressure. In due course, Seppi swiftly secured all the games without any resistance and finished the set with a 6-1 lead.
In the final set, both the challenger battled hard steal the winning spot from the other. However, the Italian professional took hold of the opportunity and secured the lead by 3-2 in the fifth game. Despite
of the Monfils endeavors, the Italian challenger wrapped up the set with a 6-4 win.
The 28-year-old Italian had a relatively lower initial serve presentation of 53 percent, pocketing away 12 of 17 first and 10 of 15 second delivery points. His challenger marched forward with 72 percent initial
serve presentation, winning 20 of 23 points. Nevertheless, he lagged behind because he could not capitalize even a single break point of the three bestowed on him.
In the next round, Seppi will battle against the top seeded, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The Frenchman defeated Nikolay Davydenko, 6-0, 3-6, 6-4.
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