Denis Istomin strikes off Matthias Bachinger in opening round – Winston-Salem Open 2011
Monday, 22nd August, saw the furtherance of the 1st round matches of the Winston-Salem Open 2011 here at the Wake Forest University hard court, Winston, USA.
Denis Istomin, Uzbek, played against the German world No.87, Matthias Bachinger to chair into the 2nd round. It took the Uzbek just 68 minutes before he crowned the 1st rounder.
Ranked world No.68, Istomin started off his professional career in 2002 as a clay court player. However, later on switched toward faster court but maintained his record on clay circuit as well. Istomin made his way to the final
of the Samarkand challenger and the Karshi Challenger at home, however, could win only one.
Bachinger, on the other hand, has been more of a struggler in recent matches. Winning only 5 out of his last 10 matches, the German concluded as the finalist at the Granby Challenger, however, could not finish off winning.
Comparatively Istomin had the greater advantage as he had won an amazing 100 percent of his last ten matches that he played. The match started off with Bachinger serving the Uzbek.
Serving for the opener, the German started up fast in the first set. Winning game one of the first set, the 24-year-old broke Istomin and further on extended his lead to 3-0 winning game 3 as well.
Istomin finally won a breather to cut the lead to 3-1. The scores then hiked to 5-3 in favour of the German before Istomin broke in game 9 and levelled the scores in game 10. Eventually the set went into a tiebreaker.
Striking back, Istomin magnificently won the tiebreaker and shocked the 24-year-old taking away the set winning 7-6(1) and onto set 2.
Istomin continued with his dominance in the second set as well and amazed the crowd with his stunning performance. Serving first, the right-hander blew off the first 5 games including 2 breakpoints and shattered every dream that
the German had of his winning. Although Bachinger did pull off a game but came up too late as the Uzbek blistered through the final game winning 6-1.
Istomin, statistically, had a better first serve percentage in most of the match. Securing 44 points in the first set, the Uzbek 24-year-old added another 26 from the second set totalling 70 to his win.
The 24-year-old now sits in the second round of Winston-Salem Open 2011 to play against Jarkko Nieminen. Nieminen would certainly come forward as a tougher challenger for the Uzbek; however, it is too soon to determine who would
end up stronger.
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