Arnaud Clement beats Steve Darcis to move into the semis – St. Remy Challenger 2011
Kicking off with the quarter-final round of the St. Remy Challenger, France, Arnaud Clement, the local lad, played his third match of the challenger tour against Belgian world No.102, Steve Darcis. Swirling the right hander in
just an hour, Clement slammed the quarter-final to win in straight set 6-3, 6-4.
Playing each other for the first time, both had a similar prior 10 match record, however, the 33-year-old had a better arsenal of weapons to come up with. Adding to his advantage, the Frenchman had played all his previous 10 matches
on hard fast circuit.
Comparing the previous ranking, Clement topped the ranking as the former world No.24 against the former world No.44. The two had been kicked out of the US Open before they entered the St. Remy challenger 2011. With an almost 800
matches experience in his bag, the 33-year-old Frenchman took off with the quarter-final fixture against the Belgian world No. 102 with a flyer.
Kicking off with the starter, Clement served fiercely and took out the opening game, 1-0. With an early break, the old Frenchman took the lead winning the first 3 games, 3-0. Finally with a breather win, Darcis penned his first
win and switched the serve.
Retaining his 3 games lead, Clement led to an easy win 6-3 and commanded the match with a 1-0 lead over the Belgian 27-year-old.
Moving on with the second set, Darcis served to take the advantage lead, however, slipped and gave away a crucial breakpoint. Availing the opportunity, the Frenchman followed with a win in game 3 and switched back the serve. Cutting
down the lead to 1-2, Darcis pulled off game 3, however, could not break the old Frenchman.
The former world No. 24 continued to win without dropping down a breakpoint and eventually took out the set winning 6-4. Clement maintained his 2 games lead till the end as he won all his respective serves and did not give away
any breakpoints all along the match.
Winning effortlessly against the former world No.44, Clement reined into the semis seat of the St. Remy Challenger to play the Slovakian, Lukas Lacko for a spot in the title match. Comparatively, Lacko has an 82-56 win loss record
on the fast hard track altogether against 159-139 of Clement.
Considering the fact that Lacko is only 23 years old and has maintained a good win loss record on hard court, he might take away the finals seat; however, if the 33-year-old uses his experience as his weapon he is certain to make
it all the way to the title win.
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