Gregoire Burquier, Fabrice Martin proceed to the second round – Guzzini Challenger 2011
Gregoire Burquier beats Daniel Cox 7-5, 6-0
World number 210 Gregoire Burquier of France knocked out world number 280 Daniel Cox of Great Britain in straight sets 7-5, 6-0 in the opening round at the Guzzini Challenger in Recanati, Italy on Tuesday. The Frenchman needed
just an hour and ten minutes to undo his opponent in a one-sided contest.
Burquier and Cox could not break each other in the first ten games of the first set and levelled the score at 5-5. The French finally broke the ice as he won the Brit’s service game at 5-5 and held his own serve in the next game
to win the set 7-5.
The 27-year-old hit 66 percent of the first serves and one ace in the opening set. The French converted 87 percent of the first serves into points. Burquier failed to handle his opponent’s big serves, losing eighteen of the 22
first return points. The French capitalised on one of the four break point opportunities he created and saved the only break point he faced in the opening set.
Burquier crushed the Brit in the second set as he did not allow him to clinch any game, breaking his opponent three times to seal the set 6-0.
The French will meet world number 136 Grega Zemlja of Slovenia in the second round.
Fabrice Martin defeats Federico Delbonis 6-3, 6-4
French Fabrice Martin, ranked 507th in the world, upset world number 203 Federico Delbonis in straight sets 6-3, 6-4to move to the second round. The match lasted for one hour and ten minutes.
Delbonis drew the first blood as he broke the Frenchman in the third game of the first set but he could not consolidate on it, getting broken immediately to equalise the score at 2-2. Martin broke again in the eighth game and served
out the set at 5-3. The French returned quite well, claiming ten of the 21 first return points in the opening set.
Martin needed a single break of serve in the second set to capture it 6-4. The French bulldozed his opponent with the help of his first serve as he fired six aces and 60 percent of the first deliveries, grabbing an amazing seventeen
of the eighteen points on the first serve in the second set. The 25-year-old capitalised on one of the six break point opportunities he created on the Argentinean’s serve in the second set.
The Frenchman is drawn to meet eighth seed Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands in the round of 16.
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