Gilles Muller cruises past Konstantin Kravchuk into second round – Kremlin Cup 2011
Seventh seeded Luxembourger Gilles Muller moved into the second round of the 2011 Kremlin Cup after doing away with local qualifier Konstantin Kravchuk in their first round match on Tuesday, 18th October at the Olympic Stadium in Moscow, Russia.
The pair toiled for nearly ninety minutes before the seed emerged as the victor with a straight, though not so simple, 7-6(5), 6-4 win over the lower ranked Russian.
Despite holding a two match career win over the Luxembourger, Kravchuk was unable to extend his lead as he came crashing down to Muller.
Determined to reduce the head-to-head deficit, Muller confidently opened serve in the first serve followed closely by the local. The two matched blow for blow keeping the scoreboard ticking on even terms throughout the set. Although Kravchuk came close to breaking Muller twice, he was unable to deliver. The neck-to-neck run between the pair forced the set into a tiebreaker. The tooth and nail fight between the two continued well into the tiebreaker with neither of the two letting up for eight points.
Standing at 4-4, Muller lost only one point as he reeled off three points to close the tiebreaker at 7-5 going one up in the set score.
Exhausted from the tiebreaker, Kravchuk lost steam in the second set. Crumbling to Muller’s onslaught, the local failed to make an impact in the second set. Starting the set with a breakpoint, Muller rode the single breakpoint opportunity all the way to culmination as he clinched the second set 6-4, sealing his straight sets win over the local.
Muller hit a resounding total of nineteen aces coupled with a remarkable 83 percent win on his first serve to clinch a straight sets win and reduce the head-to-head against the local.
Muller now moves on ahead into the second round of the event where he will either play German Philipp Kohlschreiber or Argentine Carlos Berlocq.
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