Fabrice Martin trounces Federico Zeballos in the opening round – Open Castilla y Leon 2011 CH
Special exempt in the tournament, Fabrice Martin of France won his encounter against the Bolivian qualifier, Federico Zeballos, in the opening round of Open Castilla y Leon on Tuesday afternoon.
The contest lasted for one hour and fifty five minutes of play, with Martin winning in three sets, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3, to move into the second round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour event. The French
went through real tough time before he finally took down Zeballos in the matchup, exhibiting his sheer determination and brilliant hard-court tennis skills.
The Frenchman used his powerful serve as his primary weapon of destruction and fired 22 thudding aces in the matchup to earn some un-fought points from his opponent. His serve accuracy was 58 per cent in the game and he reeled
off 40 out of 50 first serve points on it en route to victory. Zeballos’ 70 per cent precise serve earned him 43 out of 66 first serve points and five aces in the game but it was just a matter of time that Martin secured some crucial points in the contest
to come out as the winner in the end.
The opening set was off to a steady start from both men and no serve breaks were seen in the opening 10 games of the match. Martin struck 11 aces and reeled off 19 out of 22 first serve points in the first set while his opponent
closely followed him with 18 points. Finally, the French registered a serve break in the 12th game to seal the opening set at 7-5, getting 1-0 in the matchup.
Zeballos came out firing at Martin in the following set and nailed two consecutive serve breaks right away to race to 4-0 lead. The Bolivian held his lead in the rest of the set and reached 6-2 to bring the contest back on even
terms at 1-1.
Martin bounced in the game when he broke in the fourth game of the final set to lead 4-1 to inch closer to victory. He cracked in eighth aces and secured 15 out of 19 first serve points to seal victory in the third set 6-3, making
into the second round of Open Castilla y Leon.
Up next for Martin in the second round is the fourth seeded German competitor, Rainer Schuettler, who won his opening round matchup against the Spanish qualifier, Adrian Menendez in straight sets 7-6(2), 6-4.
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