Dustin Brown overpowers Benoit Paire to reach quarters – Mercedes Cup 2012
Local wildcard entrant, Dustin Brown, stunned the French competitor, Benoit Paire, in a three set thriller at the Mercedes Cup 2012 on Wednesday. He juggled up 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-1 victory against the world number 47 to book a spot in the final eight at this
outdoor clay court tournament taking place in Stuttgart.
The Jamaican resident, Brown needed three sets to upset French tennis star in their first encounter. After earning the limelight in one hour and 38 minutes, Brown convincingly charged into the quarter-finals at this ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals)
World Tour 250 series event.
The opening set saw both players displaying their brilliant skills and abilities. Brown thundered into the Tennis Club Weissenhof and drew the first blood in the opening game after cashing in the lone break chance. Apart from losing his edge in the eighth
game, he held remaining serves with self-assurance and took the set to a tie-breaker. Brown prevailed in it and clinched the opener with a 7-6(4) score line.
Paire showed his class in the following set and convincingly held his opening to level the scores at 1-1. He continued hitting massive forehands to bag his remaining serves with conviction and got the breakthrough in the ninth game, eventually pulling out
the equaliser by winning six games to four.
Ranked 150th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Brown re-gained his early ascendancy in the final set. After Paire held his opening serve, the German stroke out the last five games in a row and sealed the decider with a breadstick.
Overall, the 27-year-old hammered 19 aces and clobbered a better first serve share to steal the spotlight. He also amazingly marked 45 out of 58 points on it and capitalised on three out of four break chances to pocket the match.
The wildcard will square off against the in-form Spaniard, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who upset his fourth seeded Compatriot, Pablo Andujar.
Brown’s fellow citizen, Bjorn Phau, will accompany him in the following round. He triumphed over the Czech star, Lukas Rosol, in straight sets to progress at this event. The German exchanged a single break and dominated in two sets’ tie-breaker to get the
upper hand. He also took full advantage of the nine double faults Rosol spilled and impressively marked 38 out of 47 points on his first serve share.
Phau will next confront top seeded Serb, Janko Tipsarevic, who trashed Steve Darcis in straight sets to set up this meeting.
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