Augustin Gensse ousts Marc Gicquel in the second round – The Hague Open 2011 CH
A surprising second round result at The Hague Open, as the fourth seed Marc Gicquel of France crashed out of the tournament at the hands of his fellow compatriot, Augustin Gensse, on Thursday.
Being played in Scheveningen, Netherlands, 27-year-old Gensse outplayed the fourth seeded Frenchman in an exciting three-setter at 1-6, 7-5, 6-2, to make it to the quarter-finals of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals)
Challenger Tour event.
Gicquel hung in the contest for one hour and forty six minutes before he squandered away his one-set lead to submit the game to Gensse. It was one of the most dramatic turnarounds in the tournament so far, with the unseeded French
recovering from a disastrous opening set slump to clinch victory in the end.
The fourth seed had a ballistic beginning to the contest and come out firing at his opponent in the first set, totally blowing him away with his aggressive tennis. Gicquel secured 11 out of 13 first serve points in the opener and
stung two successive serve breaks to race away to set point at 5-1. The furious French faced no real difficulty in serving out of the opening set at 6-1 and it appeared as if Gicquel will conclude a straight sets victory comprehensively in the second set but
it actually didn’t happen.
Gensse stunned everyone in the local crowd when he made a terrific comeback in the very next set to shift the momentum of the game towards his side. The French suffered two early serve breaks from Gicquel but remained focused in
the game and replied with three cracking break points to bag the second set with an assertive note at 7-5.
The contest became even exciting in the final set when Gensse continued with his winning impetus to register an early serve break to get a commanding position in the matchup. He delivered 74 per cent of his first serve on target
in the set number three and bagged 10 out of 17 points on it. A critical serve break from Gensse proved to be the last nail in Gicquel’s coffin, closing out the contest in Gensse’s favour at 6-2.
Gensse’s victory against his fellow compatriot sends him into the quarter-finals of the Hague Open, where he will face Matwe Middelkoop of Netherlands for a place in the semis. Middelkoop won his second round matchup by upsetting
the sixth seed Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia, 1-6, 6-1, 6-2, to reach the round of eight.
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