Florian Mayer battles past Dustin Brown to advance into the second round – Gerry Weber Open 2011
Sixth seeded German Florian Mayer triumphed over his wild card compatriot, Dustin Brown in a 7-6(6), 2-6, 6-3 nail biter match to advance into the second round of the Gerry Weber Open 2011, a grass court tournament held in Halle,
Germany on Tuesday.
Ranked 18th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour rankings, Mayer outshined his countryman, ranked 93 places below him, after displaying his extra-ordinary skills in the final set at his home soil. He took one
hour and nineteen minutes to overpower Brown on his first meeting and took lead in their head-to-head series by 1-0.
27-year-old Mayer fought a tough battle against his compatriot, who is a year younger than him, in the opening set. He held his entire serves convincingly with his quick forehands and backhands and found a breakpoint
opportunity. However, the veteran failed to convert the opportunity to his advantage and took the set to tie-breaker. He prevailed in it to clinch the opener by 7-6(8) win.
The younger one turned the match 180 degrees around in the second set. After Mayer held his serve in the first game, he unleashed flurry of groundstrokes to reel off next three games in a row. Later, Brown broke the higher ranked
German’s serve again in the end to seal the equaliser with an assuring 6-2 score line. He produced a much better first serve share of 85 percent as compared to Mayer’s 68 percent and registered a spectacular 94 percent win on it.
Mayer put on overdrive mode in the final set and after converting the only breakpoint opportunity to his advantage, he bagged the decider by winning six games to three. The seed again produced a lower first serve share of 57 percent
as opposed to Brown’s 63 percent but earned an exceptional 85 percent win on it. He also capitalised on the many double faults and several unforced errors Brown committed.
"Winning was the only important thing, I knew it wouldn't be easy to win against him," said Mayer. He didn't give me any opportunities up until the third set. I got close a few time [on] his serves, but then he nearly always got
the first ball in. I really have to admire his serves, he played really well."
He will next face Taipei Yen-Hsun Lu who warded off early resistance to win in straight sets against Fin Jarkko Nieminen. Lu dominated in the first set tie-breaker and found the coveted break in the eighth game of the second set
to clinch the set with a 7-6(2), 6-3 score line.
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