Bjorn Fratangelo battles past Dominic Thiem to win Boys’ Singles title – French Open 2011
American Bjorn Fratangelo surprised everyone after stunning fourteenth seeded Austrian Dominic Thiem on Sunday in this final battle to win the Boys’ Singles – Roland Garros, second of the four Grand Slam event held in Paris, France.
He bounced from a set down to clinch with a 3-6, 6-3, 8-6 victory.
The unseeded teenager displayed exceptional skills to outmuscle the higher ranked Austrian in two hours and seven minutes at Stade Roland Garros. He lost the first set but re-focused his strategy in the second to equalise the sets
by 1-1. Fratangelo then, in a hard fought battle, won the decider in almost an hour to clinch the title.
The seed thundered into the opening set at Court Two and made quick in-roads. He held his entire serves by rolling the balls expertly onto the lines and saved both breakpoints face. Thiem then converted the only breakpoint opportunity
to his advantage to clinch the opener with a convincing 6-3 score line in thirty-three minutes. Regardless of clobbering a disastrous first serve share of 32 percent as compared to the American’s 57 percent, he registered an amazing 74 percent win on it.
Fratangelo got on track in the second set and unleashed a flurry of groundstrokes from his box of tricks to reel off first three games in a row. The American then exchanged a break and held his remaining serves convincingly to
eventually seal the equaliser by winning six games to three. He produced a much higher first serve share of 59 percent as compared to Austrian’s 29 percent and registered a spectacular 75 percent win on it. Fratangelo failed to save the only breakpoint faced
but converted both breakpoint opportunities to his advantage.
The American held his opening serve plausibly in the second game to level the scores at 1-1. Later he kept his entire serves after moving the Austrian all over the court and finally got the coveted break in the thirteenth game
to take the lead. Fratangelo then held his serve in the proceeding game to pocket the set with an 8-6 win in sixty-two minutes. He produced a slightly higher first serve share of 50 percent as opposed to Thiem’s 47 percent and registered a fascinating 78 percent
win on it. In addition to this, the American faced zero breakpoint and converted one out of four breakpoint opportunities to his advantage.
17-year-old American upset eleventh seeded Belgian Joris de Loore and fourth seeded British Oliver Golding in straight sets on his road to glory. In the semis, he rallied past French wild card entrant, Tristan Lamasine in a three
set thriller.
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