Cedrik-Marcel Stebe and Matthias Bachinger reach round two – Heilbronn Open 2012 CH
Seeded at number two in the tournament, Germany’s Cedrik-Marcel Stebe overcome his unseeded fellow compatriot, Simon Greul, in his opening match of the Intersport Heilbronn Open on Wednesday. It took him one hour and 36 minutes to wind up a comprehensive
victory in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, to march into the second round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour event being played in Heilbronn, Germany.
It was a relative one-sided affair, with Greul struggling to match the fury of his fellow countryman. Stebe was very aggressive in his approach throughout the contest and always remained one step ahead of his opponent. With an ordinary serve precision of
58 per cent, the second seeded German clinched 26 out of 36 first serve points en route to victory.
Stebe crafted 11 break opportunities in the match and cashed in four of them to dispose of his opponent with identical score lines in both sets. Greul, on the other hand, had two break points and he converted both of them but couldn’t catch up with the second
seed Stebe.
Ranked at number 83 in the ATP World Rankings, Stebe took off the first set with a break point and held his serve to get the momentum rolling in his favour. Greul came up with a break point conversion a couple of games later but another cracking serve break
from the second seed proved decisive in the set. Stebe took the opener at 6-4 to get the upper hand in the contest.
The following set was a complete replication of the first one, with Greul registering one break point conversion and Stebe replying with two crushing ones to remain at an advantage in the game. He concluded the match in his favour at 6-4, marching into the
round of 16 of the Challenger Tour-level tournament.
Third seed home favourite, Matthias Bachinger, was also among the players who made it through to the second round of Heilbronn Open on Wednesday. The 89th ranked German stood victorious against the inferior ranked Ukrainian, Sergei Bubka, in the
first round clash of the tournament. He laboured hard to wrap up the three-setter in one hour and 33 minutes, firing 12 aces and nailing just two break points. He claimed the opening set but Bubka reigned supreme in the following set to level the matchup at
one-all. The third seed German shifted gears in the final set and eased past his opponent to remain the hot favourite for the championship title.
Bachinger will play his second round match against Vasek Pospisil, who registered a close straight sets victory over Austria’s Andreas Haider-Maurer in the first round.
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