Attila Balazs edges past Martin Fischer into the round of 16 – Bet-at-home Cup 2012
Hungarian qualifier, Attila Balazs, survived the bashing in the second set to outlast local wild card entrant, Martin Fischer, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(2) in the opening round of the Bet-at-home Cup in Kitzbuhel, Austria on Monday. Balazs
needed two hours and three minutes to win a closely fought encounter.
The Hungarian contestant hit a blow to Fischer in the second game to attain a 2-0 advantage. Fischer broke back in the very next one to reduce the trail to 1-2 but he lost the following two, going down 1-4. Balazs did not give
any more chance to his Austrian rival to bounce back, serving it out at 5-3.
The 5ft 11in tall, Balazs, gave an average performance on his serve, smacking one ace and committing three double faults. The Budapest resident kept his first delivery percentage at 61 and pocketed 11 of the 17 points on them.
Balazs fared comparatively better on the replies to the Austrian’s serves, as he won nine of the 19 first and six of the 12 second return points in the opener.
Balazs and Fischer did not lose their serve in the first three games of the second set to take the score to 2-1 in the latter’s favour. The Austrian struck twice later on, nailing breaks in the fourth and sixth game, capitalising
on them to close it 6-1.
Fischer pounded a couple of aces but threw away the advantage, as he made the same number of double faults in the second set. The Austrian maintained a poor first serve percentage of 44, though, he succeeded in claiming eight of
the 12 points on them. The 26-year-old was almost flawless on the second returns, converting six of the eight of them into points.
Fischer carried the winning momentum into the final set, as he stung a break in the opening game and consolidated on it to gain a 2-0 lead. However, the Hungarian player bounced back in the sixth to square off the score at 3-3.
The subsequent six games went with the serves, taking the score to 6-6 and forcing a tie-breaker. Balazs raised the level of his game at that moment, dropping just two points and capturing it 7-6(2).
The Hungarian participant is pitted against the world number 23, Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany, in the second round. Seeded first in the draw, the German received a bye in the first round of the event.
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