Gilles Muller overwhelms Benoit Paire to book a quarterfinal berth – Moselle Open 2011
World number 49, Gilles Muller of Luxembourg, had less trouble in disposing off the local wildcard competitor, Benoit Paire, in the second round of the Moselle Open on Wednesday night.
The exciting contest was played on the indoor hard courts of the Arenes de Metz, in Metz, France, with the 22-year-old Paire failing to come up to the expectations of his home crowd. Muller wrapped up victory in one hour and thirty
two minutes, settling the final scores at 7-6(5), 6-4, to make a place in the quarter-final draws of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 tournament.
The contest appeared pretty one-sided, with the eighth seeded Muller dominating all the way to come out as the winner. It was the 15th victory for the Luxembourger in the current year and a much needed one as well.
Muller took down his French opponent with his belligerent serve game, delivering 62 per cent of his serve on target and firing 12 thudding aces in the matchup. The eighth seed dropped just five points on his serve in the entire
matchup, securing 37 out of 42 first serve points and registered just one serve break in the contest en route to victory.
Paire competed well in the contest and moved on neck-to-neck with Muller but kept losing crucial points in the matchup to finish on the losing side in the end. The Frenchman failed to craft a single break point in the whole matchup
to let his opponent away with a comprehensive victory.
The opener took off with cautious tennis from both contestants and no serve breaks were witnessed in the set. A regular game was observed, with the two contestants holding their serve to dead lock the scores at 6-6. A tie breaker
round was enforced into play and Muller convincingly pocketed the decider to seal the first set at 7-6(5).
The first serve break of the day came in the fifth game of the second set, with Muller breaking the French to lead 4-2. The eighth seed held his lead till the conclusion of the matchup, with Paire failing to reply with a break
point conversion. Muller took the second set at 6-4, getting a berth in the quarter-finals of the Moselle Open, where he will face the winner of the match between the second seed French, Richard Gasquet and the unseeded Belgian, Olivier Rochus.
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