Antonio Veic overcomes Boris Pashanski in the quarter-finals – ARAD Challenger 2012
World number 144, Antonio Veic of Croatia, fought back after losing the first set to beat Serbia’s 342nd ranked player, Boris Pashanski, 6-7(4), 6-2, 6-2 in the quarter-finals of the ARAD Challenger in Romania on Friday.
The Croatian required an hour and 52 minutes to beat his opponent in a hard-fought match.
Veic and Pashanski served superbly in the first set, as they did not drop their serve aal the way to level the proceedings at 6-6. The Serbian grabbed a couple of mini-breaks to triumph 7-6(4).
Pashanski fired two aces and did not commit any double fault, winning 12 of the 15 first and 16 of the 17 second delivery points. On the other hand, Veic banged in five aces but also committed three double faults, hitting 70 percent
of the first serves and converting 23 of the 26 of them into points. He performed poorly on the second deliveries and returns, losing seven of the 11 and 16 of the 17 points on them respectively.
Pashanski was looking to seal the match quickly, as he hit a blow to the Croatian in the very first game of the second set and held his next serve to gain a 2-0 lead. However, Veic completely turned out the proceedings after that,
breaking his opponent three times and grabbing six straight games to seal it 6-2.
The Croatian pounded three aces and committed only one double fault this time. He had a first serve percentage of 50 and pocketed eight of the 10 points on them. The 24-year-old made drastic improvement in his second returns, winning
11 of the 15 points.
The proceedings of the decider went exactly like the second set, as Pashanski claimed a breakthrough in the opening game and won his next serve to build a 2-0 lead but Veic played almost flawlessly later on to claim six games in
a row and win 6-2.
The Croatian further improved his serve in the final set, smacking five aces and 75 percent of the first deliveries.
Veic will play either Romania’s fourth seed, Victor Hanescu, or Croatian qualifier, Toni Androic, in the semi-finals.
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