Evgeny Donskoy surges past Ruben Bemelmans to reach the quarter-finals – Open Castilla y Leon 2011 CH
Another seeded player crashed out of Open Castilla y Leon, as the seventh seeded Belgian, Ruben Bemelmans suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Evgeny Donskoy of Russia on Wednesday afternoon.
The Russian wrapped up the three-setter 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, to book a berth in the quarter-finals of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour event. The seventh seeded Bemelmans resisted for one hour and fifty minutes of play before he surrendered to Donskoy in the third set of the match.
The Russia was off to a flyer and bagged the opening set early to get the upper hand in the contest but the seventh seed made a comeback in the very next set to level the game with one set a piece. Donskoy turned the table on the Belgian in the final set and stunned everyone by registering victory over the seventh seed Bemelmans.
Both players fought well in the matchup and stretched each other to their limits in the game. The Russian initiated the opening set by delivering 50 per cent of his serve on target and reeling off 16 out of 18 first serve points to get off to a good start. He was closely followed by his Belgian opponent, who kept moving neck-to-neck with Donskoy but finally dropped his serve in the eighth game to let the Russian into 5-3 lead. The unseeded Donskoy then easily served out of the first set at 6-3 to get one up in the game.
Tide turned in the following set when the Belgian broke Donskoy in his very first serve game to lead 3-0 in the second set. Bemelmans secured 15 out of 19 first serve points in the set, with Donskoy failing to recover from the damage done y the serve break. The second set fell to the seventh seed Belgian at 6-3, enforcing a decisive third set into play.
The final set went to the wire, with both men labouring extremely hard to get the better of one another. A timely serve break from Donskoy in the last moments of the match proved lethal for Bemelmans, as the Russian closed out the game at 6-4 to advance to the round of eight of the Challenger Tour tournament.
Donskoy will now have to go through the second seeded Frenchman, Nicolas Mahut, to reach the semi-finals of the tournament. Mahut outplayed the local hope, Gerard Granollers, in the second round to meet Donskoy in the quarters.
Tags: