Arnaud Clement stuns Dudi Sela in the opening round – Sony Ericsson Open 2012
French qualifier, Arnaud Clement, surprised everyone by upsetting Israel’s Dudi Sela in straight sets at the Sony Ericsson Open 2012, an ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour Masters 1000 event taking place in Miami, United States. He penned
down a 6-3, 6-3 victory over the world number 61 to occupy a spot in the second round on Wednesday night.
The 34-year-old brought his experience into handy and outclassed Sela in one hour and 36 minutes. Clement dusted away all six breakpoints he encountered to keep his entire serves and cashed in three out of nine break chances to bag the match easily. The
players last fought each other at the sunrise challenger three years ago and after earning this success, Clement maintained his winning run against the Israeli.
Clement stormed into the Tennis Center at Crandon Park and leaped to a 3-0 lead with a break of serve. He kept remaining serves with conviction and sealed the opener by winning six games to three.
Ranked 153rd in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Clement kept momentum running into the following set and held his opening serve to level the scores at 1-1. After Sela held his serve in the fifth game, the French unleashed his
true form and stroke out the last four games in a row, ultimately clinching the set with a 6-3 score line.
Clement will next confront the Canadian number one, Milos Raonic, who is seeded 26th at this event.
The Chilean veteran, Fernando Gonzalez, had a different fate earlier that day. The wild card entrant bowed out to Nicolas Mahut in his last career match in three sets. He showed tremendous skills and brushed off two match points to drag the final set to
a tie-breaker. Regardless of edging out in the tie-breaker, the 31-year-old received a memorable applause from the crowd. He also got a special video tribute which consisted of goodbyes from Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray.
"At the end, the video was great. It's not only about tennis. It's also about friends," Gonzalez said. "I mean, we've been playing against each other many times, but at the end of the day we are friends. We have a great relationship. Of course, the atmosphere
was great.”
Gonzalez also received a commemorative frame by ATP Executive Chairman Brad Drewett and Sony Ericsson Open Executive Vice President Adam Barrett.
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