Arnaud Clement hammers Adrian Menendez-MacEiras in quarterfinal – Orleans Challenger 2011
French Arnaud Clement, the upset master, locked horns with the Spanish, Adrian Menendez-MacEiras in the quarter final of the Orleans Challenger Tournament, held in France, on Friday October 21st. It was the first encounter
between the two contenders that ended up with another successful triumph for the French who knocked-out the Spanish lucky loser in straight sets 6-1, 6-4. The match lasted just an hour and thirteen minutes. Sizeable crowd gathered to witness the encounter
and get fascinated from the game.
Spanish Lucky loser had just lost two encounters of his last nine and stunned the crowd with two upsets in the tournament as well. He defeated the sixth seed on his way to the quarters. Clement on the other hand had lost three
but he loved his outstanding run of form in the tournament; he defeated the top seed and then pulled up another upset on his way to the quarters.
Both players unexpectedly made it to the quarters and it was obvious that anything could have happened provided the previous results. Clement started the match as a favourite for the first time in the tournament provided his superior
ranking and he proved his worth at the pitch by rocking the lucky loser in every aspect of the game and making its way into the semi-finals of the tournament.
The first set was all about the class and supreme play from the French who outplayed the Spanish. Eleven aces were struck by him and these were followed by an incredible first success rate of 97%. He didn’t struggled a bit during
the set and looked calm as cucumber.
World No.256 suffered severe beating at the hands at the pitch and had no answers to the all round onslaught of his opponent. He was completely bamboozled by the guile and accuracy of Clement; he was completely demoralized and
seemed to have lost faith in his abilities. He couldn’t win a single breakpoint compared to three of his opponent and was totally slaughtered in the first set.
The second display was relatively better from Menendez-MacEiras but it was not good enough to allow him any chance whatsoever to extend the match into the third set. The score completely does justice to World No.161, Clement, who
has been terrific throughout the tournament and seems to rock on every opponent.
Four aces in the second set from the French and an emphatic 100% first serve success rate and a crucial breakpoint in the ninth game was the turning point of the match; the next set was easily won with no difficulty at all and
it was curtains for Menendez-MacEiras who was completely rusty throughout the match and had no chance to make any sort of impact.
Arnaud Clement faces-off the Lithuanian, Ricardas Berankis, in the semi-final of the tournament. It is considered to be another exciting battle.
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