Grega Zemlja bounces back to stun Karol Beck in semi-final – Salzburg Challenger 2011
Grega Zemlja of Slovenia defeated Slovak Karol Beck in the semi-final of Salzburg Challenger tournament. The match lasted for two hours and 4 minutes with a final score of 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(2) in favour of inferior ranked Slovenian.
The match was contested on hard-courts at Rebound Ace, Austria arena where sizeable crowd gathered to witness this encounter. Both players were enjoying a decent run of form and it was expected that Beck would bag this match easily
but it turned out to be Zemlja’s day. Slovenian flabbergasted everyone with his terrific will power and temperament that helped him win place at the grand finale of the tournament.
First set started-off in a conventional manner and both players held their serves as score moved to 2-2. Beck, as expected, broke first in the fifth game and held his serve to take two games lead. Lead proved beneficial till the
end of the first set as his opponent couldn’t break back to level the proceedings.
Everyone thought that Slovak would easily clinch the match from that stage and move into the grand finale but Zemlja had confidence on himself. He came back strong in the second set and started the proceedings in with couple of
aces.
He didn’t look back from that stage and continue to hammer his opponent to all corners of the courts. Beck was running to and forth whilst his opponent was standing and manoeuvring the ball at his will. Such classic display of
all-round control and power play was never seen before throughout the tournament and crowd loved every bit of it.
Two consecutive breaks in the fourth and sixth game of the set completed the comeback from the Slovenian who was rocking the show at that stage. Spectators were cheering every point won by him and there was no doubt that Zemlja
was up for a major upset of the tournament.
Zemlja continued to dismantle his rival and broke in the first game of the last set and held his serve to take two games lead upfront. Finally Beck held his nerves and broke back in the sixth game to level the proceedings at 3-3.
There was no further drama as tie-breaker was enforced to decide the match. Slovak with his poor control over serves committed double-fault and then another one in succession to give massive advantage to his opponent who grasped
it with both hands and marched into the final in grand style.
Seventh seed Grega Zemlja will lock horns with fifth seed Benoit Paire in the final.
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