Artem Sitak strains past Giuseppe Menga into 2nd qualifying round – Tiburon Challenger 2011
Italian, Giuseppe Menga, met Artem Sitak of New-Zealand in the Tiburon Challenger tournament’s first qualifying round at California on October 8th. It was one of the most enthralling battles of the first qualifying round
which saw Sitak winning the game in an hour and thirty-nine minutes. After an exciting all-round performance from both players, Sitak finally clinched the match with 7-6(3), 6-4.
Seeing the ranking of both players, it was more of a mismatch as Sitak ranks way ahead of Menga in ATP world’s rankings. Surprisingly, this was not the case as Menga proved a much tougher competitor. Sitak standing firm at 417th spot
in the world rankings was given a very tough time by the player who is ranked well outside even the top 1000 players.
Both players’ first meeting was the one they would remember for a long period of time, an epic see-saw battle that left the crowd wondering as to who will proceed to the next round. The score line doesn’t do justice with the way
Menga played. He was extremely good with his fore-hand shots. Sitak did upset his composure with three aces in the first set but he covered his deficiency with his guile with drop shots. Sitak brought his experience into play and managed to steal the first-set
under the nose of his opponent.
Both players broke each other serves three times apiece and saved the break points twice. These states clearly state the level of intensity in the match between the two players. Sitak won the first set with a minute margin of just
four points which was enough to deprive Menga from winning the set.
First-set close fight increased the expectation of the crowd from Menga and they wanted him to snatch the second set and prolong the match to the final decider. However, the Italian felt short of some strong response in the second
set and was clearly tired. The Kiwi exhausted the youngster’s stamina by playing most of the balls at the corner of the pitch and made him run excessively during the rallies. It finally forced Menga to make unforced errors. He started to lose grip on the second
set and lost the set 4-6. Sitak won the second set by breaking his opponent’s serve twice which was coupled with the only ace of the set that was enough to disturb the youngster’s confidence.
It was a very exhilarating battle between the two and crowd loved every second of it. Sitak hopes to continue his form in the upcoming matches to reach to main rounds of the tournament.
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