Brian Baker flabbergasts Izak Van Der Merwe in 2nd round – Knoxville Challenger 2011
American qualifier Brian Baker shocked fourth seeded South African Izak Van Der Merwe by ousting him in the second round of the Knoxville Challenger 2011.
On Thursday the 10th of November 2011, the two competitors duelled against each other on indoor hard courts of the University of Tennessee’s Goodfriend Tennis Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, and after one hour and
thirteen minutes, the American qualifier trounced the fourth seeded South African in straight sets of 6-2, 6-3.
Baker had dominated both the sets but the first set was a near flawless victory. Nevertheless, the American had managed to hit 70 percent of his first serves on target and bagged an exceptional 74 percent of his first serve points
won in the entire match. Baker was quick to save both his breakpoints during the whole match and even capitalized on 67 percent of breakpoints won. Moreover, he had a good return which assisted him in attaining 51 percent of his total return points in the
match.
Merwe decided to open the initial round of the match after he had bagged the service pitch and he smashed an ace at 40-30 to bag the opening game to place himself on the scoreboard at 1-0. Following in his footsteps was Baker and
he too held his serve to ease himself on the scoreboard at 1-1. However, in the third game, Merwe double faulted and endorsed an early break to his adversary. On the other hand, Baker had capitalized from the break and then held his serve in the fourth game
to take a mini lead of 3-1.
The American qualifier repeated the feat and by the end of the sixth game he was a game away from clogging the opening set. However, he was unable to close the set immediately in the next game but managed to do so by smashing two
successive aces and had taken the competitive edge over his opponent.
As Baker powered through the first set, he set the tone for the second and once more Merwe commenced the second set. Both the players had managed to hold their respective service games and at the end of the first four games the
score had tied at two games each. However, in the fifth game Merwe’s forehand went wayward and he erred, endorsing a crucial break to Baker.
On the contrary Baker had capitalized from the break point and then held his serve to take a mini lead by reeling two successive games against his adversary. During the following two games the payers once more bagged a game each
on their respective serves and the score had shifted to 5-3 at the end of the eighth game with Baker leading the set. In the last game, Merwe once more gifted a game to Baker and the American qualifier sealed his victory of the match.
Baker managed to reserve a berth in the quarterfinal of the event where he will be facing sixth seeded Belarusian Uladzimir Ignatik.
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