Fernando Verdasco ends Cedrik-Marcel Stebe’s lucky bout – German Tennis Championships 2011
Eighth seed Fernando Verdasco of Spain effectively ended German wild card entrant Cedrik-Marcel Stebe’s particularly successful spell at the bet-at-home German Open Tennis Championships 2011. Verdasco’s 7-5, 6-2 win over his opponent
squarely places him in the top four eligible to play the quarter finals at Hamburg.
Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, a German wild card entrant into the main draws had stunned everyone by defeating former world No. 3 Nikolay Davydenko, eleventh seed in the tournament. A lot of German hope had been pinned on him after his
spectacular performance. But Stebe was unable to overcome Spanish pro Verdasco in Thursday’s one hour and thirty three minutes match at Hamburg.
World No. 22 Verdasco’s star had fallen in the recent months and speculation was strife that he won’t be a possible contender for even a third round match. Verdasco has effectively put all these rumours to rest by his superb performance
in his opening two matches at Hamburg, which are reminiscent of his prowess at Estoril’s final match earlier in the year.
This third round match was the first meeting between the two players.
The first set saw Stebe serving first but was limited to only 30 points due to an abrupt serve break registered by Verdasco. Stebe’s performance in the first set was indicative of his success in reaching this far, however it was
unable to halt Verdasco’s unchallenged lead. Verdasco served beautifully with elegantly crafted and well placed serves at 86%. He won a staggering 21 points off his 30 serves. On the contrary, Stebe’s performance though satisfactory in gaining 73% first serve
points stumbled completely in the second serves department. He managed only 5 of 11 second serve points. Stebe’s moment of glory came in the set when he managed to break Verdasco’s serve and level the set 5-5. However Stebe fought back ferociously and closed
the set 7-5 by registering another breakpoint in the very next game.
The second set saw a flurry of activity as both the players broke each other’s serves in succession. Stebe’s opening game was cut short by a break serve but he retaliated by successfully converting a breakpoint in the next game,
levelling the score at 1-1. Verdasco then torpedoed through the set by registering two unbeatable break of serves to render his opponent helpless. Verdasco served at a superb 91%, managing to score 14 points off 20 serves and easily won the set 6-2.
Eighth seed Verdasco will be paced against Austrian Jurgen Melzer in their quarterfinals match. Melzer, last year’s Hamburg runner up, slid past fifteenth seed Fabio Fognini 6-2 6-3.
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