Dudi Sela victorious against Marius Copil in the second round of the Status Athens Open
Third seed Dudi Sela of Israel cruised through the second round clash against the Romanian, Marius Copil in the Status Athens Open at Athens, Greece on Wednesday. He ejected Copil in straight sets 6-4, 6-2, taking just one hour
and twenty four minutes to move into the quarter-finals of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour event.
The 20-year-old Romanian hung in the opener for quite a while but Sela proved his superiority over him with his aggressive game play. The Israeli manoeuvred his way through the first set and carried his moment in the next to conclude
an easy victory.
26-year-old Sela lagged behind his opponent in terms of his serve accuracy but kept nabbing points on regular occasions to remain on top in the competition. His first serve precision was just 47 per cent but he secured 34 of 45
total serve points on it match. The Israeli crafted 12 opportunities to break his rival’s serve but cashed in just four of them, while dropping his serve once in the first set.
Copil’s serve accuracy was phenomenal, as he delivered 69 per cent of his first serve on target and banged six aces in the game. His bleak baseline defence led him down and gave away plenty of opportunities to Sela to fire thudding
winners down the line. Copil posed some resistance in the first set but bestowed the second set to his opponent in just 30 minutes of play.
Some intense power hitting was observed by the two contestants at the beginning of the opener and an exchange of one serve break took the scores to 4-3 with Sela in the lead. Copil’s five aces couldn’t prevent Sela from breaking
his opponent for the second time to seal the opening set at 6-4.
Copil’s flare faded away in the second set and he crumbled under the intense pressure exerted by his opponent. The Israeli carried on displaying his error-free tennis in the game and stung two serve breaks to reach the match point
at 5-2. He bagged 28 out of 47 total points being played in the second set and finished off the contest with a forceful winner down the line.
Sela needs to overcome the sixth seed Alexander Kudryavtsev of Russia in his next encounter to reach the semis of the Status Athens Open. Kudryavtsev outplayed Roko Karanusic of Croatia in the second round to book a date with Sela
in the quartet-finals at Athens.
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