Dustin Brown upsets third seed Nicolas Mahut in 2nd round – Orleans Challenger 2011
German, Dustin Brown, locked horns with Frenchman, Nicolas Mahut, in the second round of the Orleans Challenger contested in France, on Wednesday October 19th. It was the first encounter between the two contenders and
unexpectedly brought some stunning results. Brown staggered everyone by defeating the third seed in straight sets with a score of 6-4, 6-3 in just over an hour. The local crowd was very disappointed to see their hot favourite national star knock out in the
early stages of the tournament.
26-year-old, German was going through a very miserable run of form having lost four of his last nine encounters whilst his opponent was relatively doing better and had lost just three of his last nine encounters. Stats, ranking
and form; all factors were heavily favouring the French but upsets should not be written off in any scenario.
Four aces apiece and some scintillating firepower was showed by both contenders in the first set but it was one break that decided the set between the two; Brown broke in the ninth game to take the lead and then capitalized on
that by winning the game on his serve.
German clinched the first set by winning 29 points, difference of just one point from his opponent. He registered an impressive 74% first serve success rate and followed it with a respectful 58% second serve success rate.
French committed two double faults and was not able to save the crucial breakpoint which was turning point in the set. This was the major setback for the third seed who was totally stunned by the result; the astonished look in
his face told the whole story. Crowd was equally amused and were praying for a comeback from the home player.
Eight aces were scored again in the second set but this time Brown smashed five of them. He scored from 13 out of 14 first serves and was equally impressive with his second serve clinching 3 out of 5 serves. Two breakpoints wrapped
it up for the German and everyone was left flabbergasted by this incredible result.
The hot favourite local lost in straight points. No breakpoint for the third seed throughout the match. one of the memorable triumphs for the 26-year-old German.
This victory marked the exit of almost every seeded player from the title race except the second seeded French, Michael Llodra. Dustin Brown plays his third round match against his country mate, Andreas Beck.
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