Andreas Seppi strains past Gilles Muller in the first round encounter – Swiss Indoors Basel 2011
Rated at number 50 in the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Rankings, Andreas Seppi of Italy battled extremely hard to overcome the 51st ranked Luxembourger competitor, Gilles Muller, in the opening round
of the Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel on Tuesday evening.
The unseeded Italian toiled for two hours and twenty three minutes before winding up the three-setter at 7-6(4), 6-7(5), 6-2, to drive Muller out of the competition in his very first match of the tournament. Seppi kept his clean
record against the Luxembourger competitor, defeating him for the second time in singles encounters to book a berth in the round of 16 of the ATP World Tour 500 event.
The contest was played on the indoor hard courts of the St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland, exhibiting a brilliant display of professional tennis for the local crowd. The competition remained evenly poised in the opening two
sets but the Italian took absolute control of the final set of the match to come out as a winner on an assertive note.
Muller cracked in 23 thudding aces in the matchup and secured 49 out of 62 first serve points in the matchup, yet finishing on the losing side in the end. The Luxembourger registered just one serve break in the entire matchup,
while suffered three crushing ones from the Italian opponent to succumb in the third set.
The opening set witnessed an early trade of break points from both sides, followed by a regular game to bring a tie breaker round into play. Seppi took the better of his opponent in the decider and pocketed the first set at 7-6(4),
to get one up in the contest. None of the contestants was able to strike a break point in the set number two and another tie breaker round came into play at 6-6. Muller kept his focus this time round and took the second set at 7-6(5) to level the matchup at
one-all. Seppi then launched his onslaught over his opponent in the final set, breaking his serve twice to race away to victory at 6-2.
Seppi will take on the Japanese wild card entrant, Kei Nishikori, in the next encounter to fight for a place in the quarter-finals of the Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel. The 21-year-old Japanese stunned the world number seven, Tomas
Berdych of Czech Republic, in an exciting three-setter, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, in the opening round of the tournament to make a spot in the round of 16.
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