Dmitry Tursunov prevails over Adrian Mannarino in the final – Istanbul Challenger 2012
Eighth seeded, Dmitry Tursunov, defeated the Frenchman, Adrian Mannarino, in the final round of the Istanbul Challenger 2012 held at the hard courts of Turkey. The Russian professional summed up his 6-4, 7-6(5)
on the eve of Sunday.
The duo has encountered each other for the third time in their tennis careers. The Russian candidate secured his 2-1 lead in the head-2-head series after this ATP Challenger. Previously, the wild card entrant,
Mannarino, prevailed over his rival in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2 in the first round at the BNP Paribas Masters held at the hard courts of Paris.
The 29-year-old Russian senior started the opening round and confidently held his initial serve. Both the challengers upheld the serves in the initial eight games of the set, exhibiting their excellent baseline
defence. Tursunov served the first game hence he had the upper hand but the Frenchman struggled hard to dominate the competition. Mannarino evened out the scores to 3-all in the sixth game and 4-all to eighth game. As the score line levelled towards the end,
this aroused an alarming situation for Tursunov. He then very tactfully nudged a crucial break point and jolted down the opening set with his 6-4 lead.
In the next set, the momentum kept oscillating between the two rivals. The world number 125 Russian was unable to sustain his initial serve. On the other hand, 24-year-old Mannarino took note of the opportunity
to grab the initial two games and stamped his 2-love lead. Nonetheless, the competition between the two contenders got tougher and the scores crossed down to 2-all in the very next game. Mannarino was unable to sustain his lead; he broke his serve in the fourth
game and gradually lost his thrust to let his opponent back in business. The Russian senior never dominated throughout the set but he squared down the scores to 6-6.
In the tie-breaker round, the Frenchman was unable to prolong his previous lead but he played with the strong resolve to give some tough time to Tursunov. Eventually the Russian came out to the top and marked
the match closure with a7-6(5) win.
The left-hand Frenchman displayed 67 percent initial serve accuracy converting 40 of 58 points presented to him. Tursunov bombarded eight aces on his opponent’s court and had 64 percent initial serve precision.
He managed to pocket away 32 of 41 first and 14 of 23 second delivery points en route to victory.
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