Gregoire Burquier edges past Igor Sijsling to reach the quarters – Open Castilla y Leon 2011 CH
Unseeded in the tournament, Gregoire Burquier of France stood victorious against the Dutch competitor, Igor Sijsling, in the second round of Open Castilla y Leon, on Wednesday afternoon.
The competition was staged on the hard courts of Segovia, Spain, as the part of ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour. The Frenchman settled the final scores at 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, to dispose of Sijsling from the competition and moved into the quarter-final draws of the tournament.
Sijsling made a huge upset in the opening round when he defeated the eighth seeded French, Arnaud Clement, after a nail biting matchup but he failed to come up to the expectations of his fans this time round and succumbed in the second set to lose the matchup. The Dutch hung in the contest for one hour and fifty eighth minutes and gave some real tough time to his opponent before submitting the game.
Burquier was off to a sloppy start to the contest and dropped the opening set early to fall on the back foot right away. He recovered from the one-set deficit with great mastery and reeled off the following two sets to rocket away to victory in style. Burquier collected 36, while the Dutch secured 44 first serve points in the game, yet the French managed to take the edge over his opponent in the end.
The opening set took off with cautious tennis from both men and the first serve break of the day was seen from the racquet of Sijsling in the ninth game. The Dutch clinched 18 out of 20 first serve points in the first set and convincingly served out of the opener at 6-4 to get one up in the matchup.
Burquier backfired in the set number two, beginning with a serve break right away and then carrying on the momentum with aggressive strategies in the game. Sijsling also broke in the second set to bring the scores on levelled terms once again but a second serve break from Burquier proved sufficient for him to wrap up the second set at 6-4.
Burquier went on with his winning impetus in the final set as well and nailed a break point in the 10th game to close out victory at 6-4. The French will now feature the quarter-final of Open Castilla y Leon, where he will play against his fellow compatriot, Fabrice Martin, for a place in the semis of the tournament.
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