Bobby Reynolds surprises Martin Klizan in the second encounter – ATP Challenger Tour Finals 2011
In the second Green Group match on Thursday night, eighth seeded American competitor, Bobby Reynolds, stunned the third seed Martin Klizan of Slovakia at the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour Finals.
The contest was played on the indoor hard courts of the Ginásio do Ibirapuera in São Paulo, Brazil, with the American coming out as the winner in three sets, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1. Klizan hung in the contest for one hour and twenty six minutes before submitting to the 121st ranked American in the second set.
The 29-year-old veteran took the upper hand in the contest by outplaying Klizan in the opening set but was brought down by the Slovak in the very next set to remain at 1-1 in the contest. The third seed went through a terrible slump in the final set and was completely blown away by the fury of his opponent to lose the match.
90th ranked Klizan was led down by his error ridden game play, as he coughed a number of unforced errors, including 12 costly double faults, in the matchup to finish on the losing side in the end. The Slovak registered merely one break point in the entire matchup, while suffering four crushing ones from his opponent to let him away with an emphatic victory.
Reynolds suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Thomaz Bellucci in his first clash of the event but bounced back very strongly in Thursday’s contest to stun everyone with his hard-court tennis skills. The American secured 32 out of his 42 first serve points in the matchup and always remained one step ahead of Klizan throughout the game.
The third seed suffered two jolts right at the start of the contest, with Reynolds nailing successive break points to take the early advantage in the match. Klizan couldn’t recover from the loss and submitted the first set to his opponent at 2-6, before coming back strongly in the next set. His only break point conversion of the match earned him the second set but Reynolds was up for more in the final set. The American dropped just one game in the third set to conclude his emphatic victory at 6-1 over the third seeded player in the tournament.
Klizan’s poor run continued at the ATP Challenger Tour Finals, as he was also outplayed by the sixth seeded German, Andreas Beck in his opening round clash of the Round Robin. He will play his last match of the green Group against the top seeded home favourite, Thomaz Bellucci, on Friday night.
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