Grega Zemlja edges Daniel Brands to reach the quarter-finals – Salzburg Indoor 2011
Seeded at number seven in the draw, Slovenia’s Grega Zemlja registered victory over the unseeded German opponent, Daniel Brands, in the second round of the Salzburg Indoors, at Salzburg, Austria, on Thursday afternoon.
The Slovenian took one hour and forty four minutes of play to dump Brands in three-sets, 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-1, booking himself a berth in the quarter-final round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour event.
The Slovak took hold of the game early on but a stiff resistance from Brands in the second set forced him to fall back to 1-1 in the contest. Zemlja regrouped in the final set to unleash his aggressive onslaught on the bleak German,
completely blowing him away to seal victory for him in the end.
25-year-old Zemlja made his serve the primary weapon of destruction in the contest, firing 14 thudding aces and securing 39 out of 46 first serve points en route to victory. He crafted 12 break opportunities in the match and converted
five of them to come out as the winner, with the German opponent badly failing to register to a single break point in the entire matchup. Brands had a break chance in the final set but he frittered it way to remain on his back foot against the fury of the
seventh seed.
Brands suffered his first jolt of the day in the fourth game of the opener, when Zemlja broke his serve to lead 3-1 early in the contest. Another breakthrough from Zemlja in the eighth game closed out the first set for him at 6-2.
The German played far competitive tennis in the following set, holding his serve all the way to 6-6 to enforce a tie breaker round into play. After a stiff contest in the decider, Brands finally pocketed the second set at 7-6(5),
to bring the matchup back on even terms at 1-1.
Zemlja regained his winning momentum in the final set, rocketing away to 4-0 lead in no time. His fifth break point conversion of the day sealed out victory for him at 6-1, giving him a place in the quarter-final draw.
Zemlja will take on the other unseeded German, Bjorn Phau, in the round of eight to fight for a place in the semi-finals of the Salzburg Indoors. Phau made a huge upset in the second round when he outplayed the fourth seeded Italian,
Paolo Lorenzi, in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, on Wednesday afternoon to book a quarter-final berth in the tournament.
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