Borut Puc bags a close win over Romain Jouan in qualies – Mercedes Cup 2011
Ranked at world No. 232, the 25 year old Frenchman Romain Jouan played his 2nd fixture of the Mercedes Cup here in TC Weissenhof Court in Stuttgart against the upcoming Croatian Borut Puc. The Bjelovar born Croatian
is ranked at world No. 481 is 20 years old and is presently residing in Florida, USA. Both of the players qualified in the opening round of the Mercedes Cup making this their first match of the tour against each other.
So far the Mercedes Cup has had unpredictable results as it saw the upset of local Simon Greul against a lower ranked opponent in an earlier match. Following the first match, Borut made it sure that he would also give his best
shot to become a titlist here. The huge 6’4” Croatian made his fans smile as he won his second fixture with his magnificent performance.
The match started off with the Croatian serving for the first game of the match. Despite the gap in ranking, the Croatian made commentators run out of words. Giving shockers and winning 37 points against the French, Borut won 24
service winners and 13 return points ending the set at 7-5.
However, the match did not end as the world No.232 won the second set with 5 aces, 20 service points and 11 return points for a total of 31 points to the Croatians 15. It seemed that the French had made his comeback as he took
away the set comfortably with a 6-2 win. The score levelled at a set apiece, forcing deciding third set.
Romain Jouan served the first game of the 3rd set. With tensions increasing on both the players, the fans saw the best set of the match. With each shot being played, Romain and Borut gave in their best to bag the final
set and the match. Surprisingly, the 2nd upset of the tour was Borut qualifying for the next round. Winning the tiebreaker, the world No. 481 won the final set and the match. With his brilliant performance, Borut won a total of 93 points including
57 service and 36 return points ending the match 7-5, 2-6, 7-6(6).
The 20 year old Croatian will be playing his second match against the winner of the first match of the second round qualifier Pavol Cervenak of Slovakia. Proving his self in the second round, Borut Puc is now confident and in his
best form to play the Slovak in the 3rd round of the qualifiers of the Mercedes Cup.
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