David Ferrer plonks Julien Benneteau to advance into round four – Sony Ericsson Open 2012
Seeded fifth in the tournament, David Ferrer stomped over the French booming star, Julien Benneteau, in straight sets at the Sony Ericsson Open 2012 on Monday. He joggled up a 7-6(5), 6-4 victory against the 30-year-old to advance into the round of 16 at this Masters 1000 event taking place in Miami, Florida.
Ferrer displayed his top quality skills at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park and after warding off early resistance, he outraced the French in one hour and 37 minutes. After winning the match, the Spaniard not only secured a fourth round place at his event but also took lead in the FedEx ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Head 2 Head series by 4-3 against Benneteau.
The 29-year-old made a nervy start at key Biscayne and after losing his serve in the fifth game, he fell to 4-2. Despite levelling the scores at 4-4, Ferrer gifted away his serve again in the ninth game and trailed at 4-5. However, the Spaniard remained focused after that and cashed in his second break chance in the very next game to square the scores again and subsequently enforced a tie-breaker. Ferrer edged past the French in it and sealed the opener with a 7-6(5) win.
The Spanish number two kept his rhythm in the following set and earned the desiderated break in the third game to go 2-1 up. In spite of squandering his edge in the very next game, Ferrer capitalised on another break opportunity in the ninth game, ultimately pulling out the victory with a 6-4 score line.
Overall, the world number five nudged up a poor first serve share of 59 per cent as opposed to Benneteau’s 73 per cent. However, he amazingly clinched 26 out of 38 points on it.
Next up for the Spanish veteran is the Argentinean number one, Juan Martin Del Potro, who registered a 6-3, 7-6(3) success against the 23rd seed, Marin Cilic of Croatia. The world number 11 lost his serve once but converted three out of five break opportunities to earn the limelight. He hammered four aces and fully capitalised on five double faults the Croat spilled.
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