Arnaud Clement ejects Mathieu Rodrigues in the opening round – Challenger of Granby 2011 CH
Seventh seeded Frenchman, Arnaud Clement stood tall against his fellow compatriot, Mathieu Rodrigues, in the opening round of the National Bank’s Challenger of Granby, being played at Granby, Canada, on Tuesday.
The one-sided contest took merely about one hour to conclude, with Clement registering a comprehensive straight sets victory at 6-3, 6-3, to qualify for the next round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger
Tour event.
Unseeded in the tournament, Rodrigues hung in the matchup for just 62 minutes before he was forced to submit by the hard-hitting Clement. Rodrigues never appeared in control of the game throughout the contest and his bewilderment
was clearly depicted from his errant stroke play, letting his fellow countryman to an easy victory.
Clement was off to an aggressive start in the opening set and launched series of attacking moves right away to exert early pressure upon the bleak rival. The seventh seed went on to deliver 76 per cent of his serve on target and
secured 17 of the 22 first set points in the opener to get a commanding position in the matchup.
Rodrigues failed to craft a single break opportunity throughout the first set but bestowed three chances to his opponent, who rightfully converted one out of it to get the upper hand in the set. Clement registered the first serve
break of the day in the seventh game to serve for the set at 5-3 and then went on to close out the opener at 6-3 to lead the competition with one set to none.
The next set brought no luck for Rodrigues, who continued to spill silly errors on regularity to award easy points to his dominant opponent. He had three opportunities to break his opponent’s serve for the first time in the contest
but his error-ridden game didn’t allow him to convert a single chance to his advantage.
Despite of a below par serve precision of merely 48 per cent, Clement reeled off 10 out of 11 first serve points in the second set and stung two successive serve breaks to rocket away to victory. He delivered the final death blow
to his opponent by cracking a fiery forehand winner down the line to wrap up his straight sets victory at 6-3.
Clement moves in to the second round of the National Bank’s Challenger of Granby, where he will square off against Adam El Mihdawy of the United States for a place in the quarter-finals of the tournament.
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