Harri Heliovaara blows away Pierre-Ludovic Duclos
in 2nd round – Knoxville Challenger 2011
Finnish Harri Heliovaara blue rained on Canadian Pierre-Ludovic Duclos during the second round of the Knoxville Challenger 2011.
On Thursday the 10th of November 2011, the two took up the gauntlet against each other on indoor hard courts of the University of Tennessee’s Goodfriend Tennis Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA, and after two hours
and one minute, unseeded Finnish Heliovaara overpowered the unseeded Canadian by ousting him in straight sets of 7-6(3), 7-6(7).
Heliovaara opted to serve first after he had won the toss and for the first four games each player managed to bag two games by holding their serves. However, in the fifth game Duclos was able to reel two successive games with a
hold of serve and then by breaking his adversary in the sixth game. Nonetheless, the score was once again brought back to a tie at four games each as Heliovaara broke back immediately in the seventh game and then in the eighth held his serve.
In the following two games, the players traded in breaks and the score once more tied at five games each by the end of the tenth game. As the two competitors held their respective serves, the score pushed into a tiebreaker at the
end of the twelfth game.
In the tiebreaker, the toe-to-toe run lost it zeal between the two. Initially both the players had tied the score at 1-1 and then 2-2 but from there onwards, Heliovaara was quick to reach the finishing line and clinched the tiebreaker
at 7-3.
Commencing the second set of the match was Heliovaara and this time both the players exchanged breaks in the first two games to tie the score at 1-1. As the two held their respective serves, the score again tied at two games each
at the end of the fourth game.
The players kept matching an eye for an eye and the score kept balancing out at 3-3 at the end of the sixth game, then at 4-4, 5-5 by the end of the tenth game and ultimately at six games each by the end of the twelfth game which
eventually pushed the set into a tiebreaker.
The head-to-head run carried well into the tiebreaker and once more they matched an eye for an eye. Although, first to take the lead was Heliovaara but soon Duclos caught up and with a series of breaks and hold the last time the
score tied was at seven points each. During the last two points Heliovaara took out his A-game and steamrolled past his adversary to clinch the tiebreaker at 9-7.
In doing so; Heliovaara not only bagged the second set but also reserved a spot in the quarterfinal where he will be facing Bosnian qualifier Mirza Basic.
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