Diego Junqueira rallies pass Yannick Mertens into the main draws – Swedish Open 2011
Qualifying rounds for SkiStar Swedish Open ended on Monday and top seed Diego Junqueira of Argentina defeated the sixth seeded Belgian, Yannick Mertens, to make it into the main draws of the tournament.
The 30-year-old Argentine carried on his brilliant form in the final round qualifiers as well and wrapped up victory against Mertens in straight sets 7-6(3), 6-1, taking one hour and thirty seven minutes of play to book a berth
in the main round draws of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 tournament.
The contest appeared evenly poised in the earlier parts but the Argentine domination took its full effect in the second set, eliminating Mertens from the competition in a humiliating manner. The Belgian hung in the opening set
for quite some time before losing it into a tie breaker round but failed to pose any real resistance in the second set, submitting the matchup to the belligerent Argentine in the 98th minute of play.
The opening set took off with aggressive tennis from both contestants and some early exchanges of serve breaks were witnessed. Junqueira served with 77 per cent precision to collect 15 out of 30 first serve points and stung the
first serve break of the day to lead 2-1. The Belgian was up to the task and quickly retaliated by cracking a break point in the very next game to bring the scores on level terms once again.
A series of serve breaks was witnessed, with both men striking two break points each to drive the opening set into a tie breaker round. Mertens, who played with commanding aggression throughout the set, crumbled under the intense
pressure situation of the tie breaker round and bagged merely three points to let the Argentine away. Junqueira fired a number of forehand winners to the opponent’s court and raced passed the Belgian to seal the opening set at 7-6(3), to get 1-0 lead in the
matchup.
Mertens totally lost his steam in the following set, failing to put up any resistance against the fury of the Argentine. The Belgian somehow managed to register a serve break in the second set but had to suffer three break points
from Junqueira to mark an end to his voyage at the Swedish Open qualifiers.
The Argentine will play his opening round match of the main draws of SkiStar Swedish Open against Igor Andreev of Russia.
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