Bobby Reynolds labours past Frank Dancevic in the qualifying competition – BNP Paribas Open 2012
World number 115, Bobby Reynolds of the United States, had to go through some real tough times before taking down the 27-year-old unseeded Canadian, Frank Dancevic, in the final qualifying round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. The enthralling contest lasted for two hours and 49 minutes, with the American veteran settling the final scores at 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-4.
Reynolds’ home crowd had a shocker early in the match when he dropped the opening set in a dismal manner. The 10th seed regrouped in the following set recovered from the slump with great mastery to win the set, levelling the match scores at one-all. He went on with his winning momentum in the decisive set and hunted down the Canadian opponent to live up to the expectations of his home crowd.
It was the third victory for Reynolds against Dancevic, who defeated the American in their last encounter in 2009, at Indianapolis. He was just one game away from bagging victory on Wednesday but a splendid turnaround from his opponent left him stunned in the end. Reynolds conceded seven double faults in the match but compensated for them very well by winning 54 out of 72 first serve points.
The Canadian was off to a brilliant start in the opening set, breaking his opponent’s serve in the fifth game to lead 3-2. He kept his lead intact and held his remaining serves to serve out of the opener at 5-4.
A completely opposite start was witnessed in the next set, with Reynolds breaking first time in the match to lead 3-0. Further exchanges of serve breaks later in the set took the scores to 6-6, enforcing a tie-breaker round into play. The 10th seed American got the better of Dancevic this time round and pocketed the tie-breaker round to level the set score at 1-1.
With both men winning one set apiece, the decider was bound to be a nail-biter and it actually proved to be one. Reynolds dropped serve once in the eighth game but his two cracking break points proved to be sufficient for him to come out as the winner at 6-4.
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