David Goffin edges past Alexander Ward into the quarterfinals – Orange Open 2012 CH
World number 148, David Goffin of Belgium, survived a scare in the second set to overcome Alexander Ward of Great Britain 6-2, 3-6, 7-6(4) in the second round at the Orange Open in Guadeloupe, France on Thursday.
Goffin and Ward faced difficulty in holding their serves at the start of the match, as first three games were broken to take the score to 2-1 in favour of the former. The Belgian hit another blow to his opponent in the seventh
game and capitalised on it to win 6-2.
The Liege, Belgium resident did not serve quite well, as he committed two double faults and lost four of the six points on the second deliveries. Nevertheless, he won most of the points by aggressively replying to Ward’s serves,
grabbing nine of the 16 first and eight of the 12 second return points.
Both players ended their serve miseries in the second set, holding them in the first nine games to take the score to 5-4 in favour of Ward. The Brit claimed the only breakthrough and grabbed it 6-4.
Ward pounded three aces and kept his first serve percentage at 67, winning 15 of the 18 points on them. The Brit could not withstand Goffin’s huge first serves, as he lost seven of the eight points on them but the Brit managed
to convert the only break chance he got in the second set.
In the decider, Goffin and Ward started to falter on their serves once again, exchanging a couple of breaks in the first eight games to even out the score at 4-4. They held during the rest of the set to square off the score at
6-6 and take it to a tie-breaker. Goffin dominated its second part and triumphed 7-6(4).
The Belgian was lucky to survive despite giving a poor second serve performance, committing four horrible double faults and losing seven of the 13 points on them. However, Goffin’s first serves were better than his opponent’s,
as he delivered 70 percent compared to just 54 by Ward. The 21-year-old failed to save both break points he faced but compensated that by utilising two of the six opportunities he created in the final set.
Goffin required two hours and 16 minutes to win a marathon match.
The Belgian will meet Yuichi Sugita of Japan in the quarterfinals. Sugita stunned eighth seed, Benoit Paire of France, in the previous match.
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