Dudi Sela edges past Alexander Kudryavtsev in the quarter-final of the Status Athens Open
After an enthralling contest at Athens, Greece, the third seed Dudi Sela of Israel defeated the sixth seeded Russian, Alexander Kudryavtsev in the quarter-final matchup of the Status Athens Open on Friday. It took 90 minutes for
Sela to seal the straight sets victory 7-6(7), 6-4, booking a semi-final berth in the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour event.
The contest remained equally poised throughout, with momentum oscillating to both sides. The 26-year-old Israeli proved his mental resilience once again to outplay his opponent after a stiff contest. He won the hard-fought opener
in the tie breaker round and toiled further to clinch the second set to close victory.
Kudryavtsev hung in the contest for quite some time with his brilliant serve and aggressive game play. He delivered his first serve with 68 per cent accuracy, while his opponent followed him with a mere 53 per cent. The Russian
banged eight thudding aces in the game but coughed four costly double faults in the process to fritter away the advantage. He registered two serve breaks in the contest but Sela edged over him with his three break points, dispensing Kudryavtsev out of the
Challenger Tour tournament.
Intense game of tennis was witnessed in the opening set of the match, with the two contestants having a fiery start. Kudryavtsev was the first one to crack a serve break in the third game but had to suffer one in the very next
game. The Russian amazingly reeled off 23 out of 27 first serve points in the opener, while Sela secured 19 of 25 first serve points.
A routine game took the scores the 6-6, enforcing decisive tie breaker round in the first set. The tie breaker also went on neck-to-neck, extending to a total of 16 points. Sela held his nerve in the intense pressure situations
and fired a forceful winner to seal the opener at 7-6(7) and one up in the contest.
The first serve precision of Kudryavtsev dropped to 63 per cent in the following set, coughing three expensive double faults to bestow easy points o the Israeli. The Russian broke in the third game but Sela retaliated with two
break points to push Kudryavtsev on the back foot. Sela carried on played quality tennis to eventually win the contest at 6-4 and move into the semi-final draw of the Status Athens Open.
Sela will be competing against the second seed Russian, Dmitry Tursunov in the semi-final of the tournament. The Russian defeated Evgeny Korolev of Kazakhstan in the quarter-final clash at Athens.
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