Diego Junqueira downs Andrei Gorban in the qualies – SkiStar Swedish Open 2011
30 year-old Argentine veteran, Diego Junqueira, continued his successful run in the qualifying draws of SkiStar Swedish Open, defeating Andrei Gorban of Moldova in the second round on Sunday.
The qualifying top seed faced limited resistance from his bleak opponent in the contest and wrapped up victory in straight sets, 7-5, 6-1, taking one hour and thirty four minutes of play to move in to the qualifying competition
round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 event.
The competition took place at Bastad, Sweden, with the Argentine exhibiting an excellent display of clay-court tennis. Junqueira had to manoeuvre his way through the opener after some quality tennis from Gorban but rocketed away
to victory in the second set in the most authoritative manner.
The opening set was stuffed with high-quality tennis action from the two contestants, trying to take the better of one another early in the competition. Junqueira’ 68 per cent precise serve was his primary weapon in the game and
his rock solid baseline defence backed up his game to perfection. He drew the first blood in the opening set by breaking Gorban’s serve in the third game but the Moldavian quickly backfired at him with a break point conversion to level the scores once again.
A further exchange of serve breaks was seen from the two men later to tie the scores at 5-5, apparently dragging the opener to a tie breaker round. A timely serve break from the top seed Argentine proved vital in the game, letting
him serve for the set at 6-5. Junqueira comprehensively served out of the first set at 7-5 to get one up in the contest.
The dejected Gorban went through a dreadful slump in the following set, spraying a variety of errant strokes all over the clay court and conceding a number of unforced errors. Junqueira’s aggression rose to its optimum level in
the set number two, launching a series of attacking moves upon the crumbling Moldavian competitor. His 81 per cent accurate serve was broken just one but the Argentine registered four cracking serve breaks in the second set to race to victory at 6-1 on an
assertive note.
Junqueira struck a total of seven serve breaks in the contest and reeled off 73 out of 127 total points being played to reach the final round of the qualifying draws, where he will face the sixth seed Belgian, Yannick Mertens,
for a place in the main draws of the Swedish Open.
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