Benoit Paire rallies past Andreas Seppi into the second round – Swiss Indoors Basel 2012
World number 46, Benoit Paire of France, came back after losing the first set to topple the 22nd ranked player from Italy, Andreas Seppi, in the first round of the Swiss Indoors in Basel.
The French national lost the opener but then fought back in style to capture the next two, winning it 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in an hour and 31 minutes.
Paire and Seppi began the encounter by winning their serve in the first two games, levelling the score at 1-1. Seppi hit a blow to the Frenchman in the third to move ahead 2-1 but Paire broke back immediately to square if off at
2-2. The Italian contender struck again in the fifth and consolidated on it this time to gain a 4-2 lead. Seppi maintained his lead till the end to claim it 6-4.
The Italian participant banged in a couple of aces and 70 percent of the first serves, securing 16 of the 21 points on them. The 28-year-old failed to save the only break point he faced but converted both he received in the opener.
After opening three games of the second set went with serves, Paire nailed a break in the fourth game to take a 3-1. Seppi hit back in the fifth to reduce the trail to 2-3 but he failed to win even a single one afterwards, going
down 2-6.
Paire pounded three aces and pocketed 13 of the 15 first delivery points in the second set. The Frenchman could not do a good job on the second serves and first returns, losing seven of the 10 and four of the six points on them
respectively. The 6ft 5in tall player compensated that by clinching 10 of the 13 points on the second returns.
In the decider, Paire and Seppi did not allow each other to break serve in the first seven games and took the score to 4-3 in favour of the former. The Frenchman attained a breakthrough in the eighth and made the most of it to
win 6-3.
Paire is pitted against Polish player, Lukasz Kubot, in the second round.
Tags: