Bjorn Phau battles past Marius Copil in the quarter-finals – Bratislava Challenger 2012 CH
World number 81, Bjorn Phau, displayed a remarkable game and gave his Romanian junior, Marius Copil, in the quarter-finals of the Bratislava Challenger 2012 held at the indoor hard courts of Decoturf, Bratislava. He consolidated
his 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 on the eve of Friday in nearly two hours.
The 22-year-old Romanian challenger commenced an average start of the opener and held his serve. Both the players gave each other tough competition and started to level down the score line after every other game. Towards the end,
Phau received his required break in the 11th game and immediately nudged forward to grab the last two games, marking a 7-5 lead.
Ranked 163rd in the ATP World Tour Rankings, Copil, thundered onto his challenger with eight aces but had a lower initial serve precision of 68 percent. He converted 15 of 21 first and seven of 10 second serve points.
The German responded with five aces and 80 percent initial serve precision. He bagged away 24 of 33 first and five of eight second serve points.
In the second set, the right-hander Romanian contender secured the initial three games without facing any hindrance. He cashed his challenger’s serve in the second game and marked a 3-0 lead. The German veteran did not show any
competition and proved completely inactive. Eventually, Copil beautifully dusted away his opponent and cashing onto his rival’s serve in the sixth game to close the set with a bread stick.
In the final set, both the professionals picked a slow start but the 33-year-old, Phau, struck an early blow to his competitor cruising through the later half. He achieved his long awaited break in the sixth game, beyond that point
he had no turning back. He brilliantly closed the decider with a 6-3 victory.
The third seeded German attained 61 percent initial serve precision with 15 of 19 first and six of 12 second serve points. The Romanian contender fired four aces with 62 percent first serve accuracy. He pocketed away 17 of 23 first
but just four of 14 second serve points. He lost his winning pace as he was unable to pocketed away even a single serve break opportunity out of the two presented to him.
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