Florian Mayer survives against Yen-Hsun Lu to move into the quarterfinals – Gerry Weber Open 2011
Sixth seeded German Florian Mayer struggled past Taiwanese Yen-Hsun Lu in a three set thriller at Gerry Weber Open 2011. The 27-year-old registered a 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-4 victory over his age fellow, Lu to secure a final eight spot
at Halle, Germany on Thursday.
Ranked 18th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour rankings, Mayer took his revenge from the last year loss to Taipei, ranked 35 places below him, at Wimbledon. He lost the first two sets before retiring due to
an injury on their first encounter. However, earning this three set victory in two hours and fourteen minutes, the German levelled the head-to-head series by 1-1 against Lu.
Both veteran players displayed awe-inspiring skills in the opening set and held on to their serves by pinging the balls expertly onto the lines. Mayer and Lu both saved all the breakpoints they conceded and registered almost a
similar 78 percent win on their first serve share.
The German committed fewer double faults and smacked seven aces but failed to convert any breakpoint opportunity to his advantage and took the set to a tie-breaker. Mayer dominated in it after getting charged up by the crowd support
and eventually clinch the opener with a 7-6(4) win.
Lu, who snapped out of his four match losing streak after winning here against Jarkko Nieminen in the opening round, re-created his magic to keep his entire serves plausibly. He saved all three breakpoints faced and converted one
out of seven breakpoint opportunities to his advantage to seal the equaliser by winning six games to three.
Mayer got back on track in the decider and proved his class in it. He slammed four aces and saved the only breakpoint faced. The German held on to his entire serves superbly and converted the only breakpoint opportunity to his
advantage in the eight game to bag the final set with a 6-4 win.
Overall, the higher ranked German hammered thirteen aces and regardless of clobbering a lower first serve share of 61 percent as compared to Lu’s 70 percent, he registered an impressive 73 percent win on it. Mayer also committed
fewer unforced errors and double faults.
"In the last game I finally I believed in myself to go after it aggressively and got the break," Mayer said after the match. "I was disappointed with my return today. I couldn't read his serve."
Next challenge for the local star is the third seeded German Gael Monfils. Talking about the Frenchman, Mayer commented, "I have been surprised how strong he has played here. I didn't think he would be this strong on grass."
Monfils trashed Croat Ivan Dodig in straight sets to reach this spot.
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