Gilles Muller rallies past Robby Ginepri into the quarterfinal – Atlanta Tennis Championships 2011
World number 82 Gilles Muller of Luxembourg survived the meltdown in the second set to overcome wild card entrant, world number 369 Robby Ginepri of USA in three sets 7-6(6), 2-6, 6-2 in the round of 16 at the Atlanta Tennis Championships
in Atlanta on Wednesday. It took the Luxembourger an hour and 56 minutes to beat his opponent in a tough encounter.
Muller and Ginepri held their service games throughout the first set and squared off the score at 6-6 to take the set to a tie-break. The Luxembourger captured a late mini-break in the tie-break, sealing it 8-6.
The left-handed delivered just 47 percent of the first serves but fired six aces in the opening set. Muller could not return well as he won just three of the twenty first return points. On the other hand, Ginepri kept his first
serve percentage at 56 percent and claimed a whopping 85 percent of the first service points. The American won six of the 25 points on the first return. The 28-year-old could not win any of the three break points he received on Muller’s serve in the first
set.
After losing a close opening set, Ginepri started to play attacking game and thrashed his opponent in the second set. The American allowed Muller to grab just two games, breaking the Luxembourger twice to capture the set 6-2.
The six feet tall kept his first serve percentage at 67 percent and hit three aces in the second set. The American had a moderate service performance but he made the difference with his strong second returns, claiming 63 percent
of the second return points. Ginepri did not give any break point opportunity to Muller and capitalised on two of the four break point opportunities he created on the Luxembourger’s serve in the second set.
Muller made a strong start in the third set, breaking the American in the opening game and holding his next service game to take a 2-0 lead. The 28-year-old broke again in the fifth game and capitalised on the double break of serve
to clinch the set 6-2.
The Luxembourger fired five aces and 61 percent of the first serves in the first set. Muller did not lose any point on his first serve, capturing all the eleven first service points in the final set.
The unseeded will take on second seed Kevin Anderson of South Africa in the quarterfinals. The South African beat Michael Russell of USA in straight sets 6-1, 7-5 in the second round.
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