Farrukh Dustov defeats Zhe Li in second round – Beijing International Challengers 2011
Uzbek tennis pro Farrukh Dustov defeated Chinese Zhe Li in a nail biting encounter 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4) on Wednesday to book his place in the third round of 2011 Beijing International Challenger Series here in Beijing, China. Dustov looked a bit out of sorts early on but as the match progressed he raised his game to a higher level to clinch the last two sets and an emphatic victory.
Un-seeded at the Association of Tennis Professional tournament, Dustov made a very shaky start to the match. He struggled to get to his opponent’s big forehand and backhand winners and soon found himself in a very difficult position. Lin grabbed opportunities with both hands and made the crucial serve break to take 4-2 lead in the set. Holding on to the game score advantage, the Chinese tennis-pro bagged the opening set to take 1-0 lead in the set score.
Trailing 1-3 in the second set as well, the 25-year-old Dustov needed one of his career best performances to come back into the contest. Dustov had his first break chance in fifth game of the set, which he converted successfully with four straight points. He then clinched his next service game as well to level the game score at 3-3. Both players broke each other once more as the set went into a tie-breaker.
Ranked 361st in the world, Dustov showed amazing temperament and determination clinch take the tie-breaker 7-5 to force the match into the finals set.
The contestant displayed some high quality tennis in the final set as another breath taking set was witnessed on the hard courts of Beijing Tennis centre. After several serve breaks were exchanged, the final set moved into a tie-breaker as well.
Playing the big points exceptionally well under pressure, the Uzbek clinched the tie-breaker 7-4 to seal a memorable victory in a match that lasted for more than three hours and one minute. Li put up a great show and he claimed 51 per cent of the total points in the match but it just wasn’t his day.
Tags: