Dmitry Tursunov strains past Evgeny Korolev in the quarter-final of the Status Athens Open
World number 84 Dmitry Tursunov of Russia accomplished a hard-fought victory over Evgeny Korolev of Kazakhstan in the quarter-final clash of the Status Athens Open at Athens, Greece on Friday. The Russian toiled for one hour and
forty two minutes before concluding his straight sets victory 7-5, 7-5, to book a semi-final berth in the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour tournament.
The Second seeded Russian had to work out his way through his Kazakh opponent in both of the sets before claiming victory. Korolev gave some tough time to the Russian before submitting the game and giving his opponent an excess
to the semis of the tournament. The Kazakh competed well in the contest but was led down by his high error count, which included five expensive double faults.
Although Tursunov delivered his first serve with just 58 percent precision, the Russian banged 11 thudding aces to the opposite court, while conceding just two double faults in the whole matchup. His first serve earned him 32 out
of 42 points and he backed it up with his brilliant return game. Tursunov crafted nine chances to break the opponent’s serve and converted just four of them en route to victory.
The opener kicked off with aggression from both opponents and an early exchange of serve breaks. Tursunov secured 16 of 19 first serve points in the first set and fired four aces to put the Kazakh under pressure. Korolev competed
very well in the start but tend to lose his focus later in the opening set, spilling out four costly double faults to give opportunities to his rival to capitalise. Tursunov took full advantage of Korolev’s mistakes and stung the all important second serve
break in the twelfth game and took the first set at 7-5.
Korolev kept labouring hard in the next set as well, searching an opportunity to bounce back in the game. He struck a break point in the fifth game but dropped his serve twice to remain at a disadvantage. Tursunov cracked seven
aces in the second set to exert pressure upon his opponent, who finally crumbled at 5-7 to lose the contest. A total of 80 points were played in the second set, out of which 42 were bagged by the Russian and 38 secured by Korolev.
The Russian will be squaring off against the third seed Dudi Sela of Israel in the semi-final of the Status Athens Open on Saturday. Sela stood victorious against the sixth seed Alexander Kudryavtsev, 7-6(7),6-4, in the quarter-final
clash at Athens.
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