Florent Serra labours past Dominik Meffert into the Men’s Singles main draw – Gerry Weber Open 2011
Qualifying top seed, French Florent Serra rallied past German Dominik Meffert in a three set thriller at the final qualifying round of the Gerry Weber Open 2011, a grass court tournament held in Halle, Germany. The 30-year-old
Frenchman registered a 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory over his German age fellow at his home soil to advance into the main draw on Sunday.
Ranked 129th in the South African Airways ATP World tour rankings, Serra easily reeled off the opener but lost his ways in the second set against the German, ranked 75 places below him. However, he got back on track
in the decider and sealed the deal in one hour and thirty-five minutes to book a main draw spot at Gerry Weber Stadion.
The Frenchman smoothly clinched the opening set after holding his entire serves by rolling the balls expertly onto the lines. He faced zero breakpoint and converted two out of four breakpoint opportunities to his advantage to win
the set with an assuring 6-2 win. To spice it further, Serra smacked two aces and clobbered a higher first serve share of 76 percent as compared to German’s 67 percent. He also registered an amazing 81 percent win on it.
Meffert raised the bar of his game in the second set and convincingly held his opening serve. He got fuelled up with the support from his home crowd and despite losing a serve, the German converted two out of three breakpoint opportunities
to his advantage to pocket the equaliser with a 6-3 success. Meffert dominated throughout the set, slamming four ferocious aces and producing a higher first serve share of 70 percent as opposed to Frenchman’s 60 percent. He also earned a spectacular 88 percent
win on it and never faced a serious threat from his opponent.
Serra got back on track in the decider as he kept his entire serves through tremendous agility. He then converted the only breakpoint opportunity to his advantage to seal the final set by winning six games to three. Meffert produced
a higher first serve share and earned an incredible 83 percent win on it. Furthermore, he hammered four aces and saved the only breakpoint conceded to clinch easily.
The Frenchman will next face his countryman, Gael Monfils in the first round of this tournament. Serra needs to practice more to down his third seeded compatriot who made a quarter-final berth at French Open where he lost to Roger
Federer before entering this ATP World tour 250 series event.
Tags: