David Ferrer eases past Radek Stepanek to secure semi-final spot – Tokyo Open 2011
Third seeded Spaniard David Ferrer tumbled over the seventh seeded Czech Radek Stepanek in straight sets at the Rakuten Open 2011, an ATP World Tour 500 series event held at the Ariake Coliseum in Koto, Tokyo, Japan. He warded
off late resistance to register a 6-2, 7-6(3) score line against the 32-year-old Czech to reach the last four on Friday.
Ranked 5th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour rankings, Ferrer overwhelmed resilience posed by the Czech, ranked 19 places below him, on their eighth meeting. Not only Ferrer extended his lead in the head-to-head
series by 5-3 but also booked a semi-final spot in this outdoor hard court event.
The seed thundered into the Japanese hard courts and after holding his first two serves convincingly, he got the coveted break in the fourth game. Later, the Spaniard held remaining serves and broke again in the last game to pocket
the opener with a 6-2 victory.
He formulated a lower first serve share of 56 percent as compared to Czech’s 61 percent but registered a plausible 63 percent win on it. Ferrer further spiced the set by fending off both breakpoints faced and cashing in on half
of the four breakpoint opportunities to his advantage.
Clinching a title at Acapulco this season, Ferrer carried his winning ways in the final set and kept his serve in the opening game to take the initial lead. Regardless of losing his serve in the fifth game, the Spaniard kept his
composure and snatched the break back in the tenth game to tie the scores at 5-5. He held his following serve and dragged the set to a tie-breaker. Ferrer remaining dominant in it and subsequently sealed the set with a 7-6(3) win.
He again manipulated a lower first serve share but earned an impressive 73 percent win on it. In addition to this, the Spaniard saved three out of four breakpoints came across and converted one out of two breakpoint opportunities
to his advantage.
Next up for the former world number four, Ferrer is the second seeded Brit, Andy Murray. Murray defeated former world number three David Nalbandian in straight sets to move into the last four.
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