Blaz Kavcic battles past Julien Benneteau into 2nd round – SkiStar Swedish Open 2011
Play resumed on the fourth day of the SkiStar Swedish Open 2011 with the first men’s singles match played between the French Julien Benneteau and his opponent, the Slovenian Blaz Kavcic. Both the players had been unseeded for this
round of the tournament.
Bastad Tennis Courts witnessed a riveting match as the two players fought neck to neck and extremely fiercely to book a place in the next round of the tournament. Court conditions were ideal, with the temperature at about 21°C
and only a mild humidity (around 31%), for the closely contested match causing no discomfort to the players. The play lasted for almost a tiring three hours. Eventually, the Slovenian Blaz Kavcic with his 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 win obliterated his opponent, sending
him packing.
Kavcic had a sure shot lead right from the beginning of the first set making it difficult for Benneteau to strike back. Early on in the game Kavcic managed to bag three decisive aces and sustained with a superbly skillful game.
Kavcic was able to secure fifteen points from his 25 serves and successfully converted three of the many serve breaks in the set to his advantage. Benneteau’s sloppy first set performance was riddled with errors and his four double faults eventually cost him
the set.
Following this setback, Benneteau fought back with an unfathomable vengeance uncharacteristic of his performance in the first set. He continued with the same zeal in the third set but eventually lost out to Kavcic. Nevertheless
this match was surely a close call, with the probability to swing either way present till the very end. Benneteau garnered two serve breaks and by successfully winning 17 of his 24 serve points won the second set at a score of 4-6.
The third set followed the precedent established by the leading sets and slowly the game built to the 5-5 mark. The serve break converted by Kavcic at this moment in the game proved to be the decisive factor and the match eventually
went in favor of the Slovenian. Overall performance of both the players was equally good and both showed exceptional skill, especially while serving. In the third set, Kavcic managed to score 20 of his 33 serves a far cry from Benneteau’s 15.
Kavcic will now have a faceoff with either of the two Argentineans Juan Monaco or Carlos Berlocq in the next round of the tournament.
Tags: