Augustin Gensse strains through Matwe Middelkoop into the semis – The Hague Open 2011 CH
One of the most enthralling contests of the tournament was witnessed on Friday afternoon when the unseeded Frenchman, Augustin Gensse rallied past his quarter-final opponent, Matwe Middelkoop of the Netherlands to make it into
the semis of The Hague Open.
Being played at Scheveningen, Netherlands, the three-set thriller lasted for two hours and thirty nine minutes, with Gensse winning at 5-7, 6-0, 7-6(6), to advance to the round of four of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals)
Challenger Tour event.
The back-and-forth affair provided high quality tennis action to the audience present at Scheveningen but it ended in their dismay, as the local boy, Middelkoop lost in the game after playing in so well. The unseeded Dutch competitor
had a belligerent start to the contest to get one up early but lost his way in the middle parts of the game. He hung in the competition till the very last minute but was beaten by the sheer brilliance of Gensse in the lost set tie breaker round to end his
voyage at The Hague Open.
Middelkoop had a positive start in the opener and played good risk-free tennis to strike the first serve break of the day to lead 4-3. The Frenchman retaliated immediately in the next game to take the scores to 5-5 and it appeared
as if a tie breaker round would come into play but a vital serve break from the Dutch racquet stunned Gensse. Middelkoop took the opening set at 7-5 to get into a substantial position in the competition.
The French turned the tide in the next, with Middelkoop going through a dramatic slump in the game. The Dutch utterly botched in the set number two, not holding serve in a single game and allowing Gensse to make an impactful comeback
in the contest. The French secured 100 per cent of his first serve points in the set and cracked in three consecutive break points to devastate his opponent to bag the set at 6-0.
Another major momentum swung took place in the final set of the match, with Middelkoop bouncing back after a disastrous second set. Both men exchanged two serve breaks each before the third set entered into a tie breaker round
at 6-6. The Dutch hung in the game for a while but eventually a mini-break from Gensse marked an end to the contest in his favour at 7-6(6).
The French will now meet the top seeded Turk competitor, Marsel Ilhan, in the semi-final clash to reach the final of The Hague Open.
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