Grega Zemlja surprises Janko Tipsarevic in the semi-finals – Erste Bank Open 2012
World number nine, Janko Tipsarevic, received a three-set shocker at the hands of the Slovenian underdog, Grega Zemlja, in the semi-finals of the Erste Bank Open 2012. The right-hander Slovenian summed up his 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-2 victory
on the eve of Saturday, held at the hard courts of Vienna, Austria.
The second seeded, Tipsarevic, displayed his superior experience and took the lead by holding his serve in the opening game. For the initial part of the set, the score line levelled down twice in the fourth and the sixth game respectively.
The Serbian cashed in the lone break opportunity and reeled off all the remaining games without facing any difficulty. Eventually, he terminated the set with a 6-3 lead.
The second seeded Serbian fired six aces and had a 61 percent initial serve precision. He converted 18 of 23 first and seven of 15 second delivery points. The Slovenian junior manifested 71 percent initial serve with 12 of 17 first
and just two of seven second serve points.
The 26-year-old Slovenian displayed a remarkable comeback in the second set but he was unable to attain his lead in the following set. Tipsarevic secured the front line and marked a 2-love lead by dissolving his challenger’s initial
serve. Zemlja geared up and cashed his rival’s serve in the sixth game and evened out the scores to 3-all. Both the players fiercely battled against one another and repeatedly evened out the socres after every alternate game. The right-hander Slovenian avenged
his former loss and stamped a 7-6(5) win after a tough tie-breaker round.
In the final set, the right-hander Serbian completely lost his former momentum and was unable to bounce back. The world number 70, Zemlja, dissolved his opponent’s serve in the third game and did not give him a single chance to
dominate. He successfully nudged forward to terminate the match with 6-2 win.
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