Grega Zemlja advances into 2nd round; overpowers injured Aljaz Bedene – Salzburg Indoors 2011 CH
In a match between both Slovenian stars, seventh seed Grega Zemlja bounced back to earn a 6-7(4), 6-3, 2-0 retirement victory over Aljaz Bedene at the Salzburg Indoors 2011, an ATP Challenger Tour event taking place on the indoor
hard courts in Salzburg, Austria. Zemlja automatically advanced into the second round on Tuesday.
The Jesenice native Zemlja took almost one and half hour to overpower his injured countryman on their third challenger level meeting. After earning this victory, he not only maintained his winning record against Bedene but also
inched towards his second year-to-date challenger title (first one was at Coloundra).
22-year-old Bedene confidently entered the Salzburg Arena and smoothly plucked in entire serves without facing any breakpoint. His compatriot on the other hand was equally matched and he failed to find any breakpoint opportunity.
Bedene The set went to a tie-breaker where Bedene prevailed and clinched the opener with a 7-6(4) win.
Ranked 123rd in the South African Airways ATP World Tour rankings, Zemlja raised the level of his game in the second set. With his brilliant returns and defensive skills, the high spirited Zemlja dusted away five out
of six breakpoints faced and cashed in both breakpoint opportunities to his advantage to seal the equaliser with a 6-3 success. He manipulated an incredible first serve share of 74 percent as compared to Bedene’s 40 percent and registered a plausible 66 percent
win on it.
Zemlja kept momentum flowing in the final set and got the critical break early on to take a 2-0 lead. However, Bedene got injured after it and was forced to retire. The winning Slovene produced a better first serve share of 80
percent as compared to his countryman’s 60 percent and registered a superb 75 percent win on it.
Up next for Zemlja is the German, Daniel Brands who trashed Italian Stefano Galvani in straight sets to reach this spot.
24-year-old German brushed off three out of four breakpoints came across and cashed in half of the eight breakpoint opportunities to his advantage to seal the deal with a 6-2, 7-5 victory. He fired twelve aces from his box of tricks
and manifested a slightly higher first serve share of 66 percent as compared to the Italian’s 64 percent. Above all, Brands earned a tremendous 79 percent win on it and concluded the match in one hour and eleven minutes.
Galvani on the other side registered an acceptable 63 percent win on his first serve share but capitalised on only one out of four breakpoint chances.
Tags: