Harri Heliovaara overpowers Denys Molchanov in 1st round – Charlottesville Challenger 2011
Finnish Harri Heliovaara overcame Ukrainian Denys Molchanov in the first round of the Charlottesville Challenger 2011.
On Monday the 31st of October 2011, the two competitors took up the challenge on indoor hard courts of the Boar’s Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, Virginia. After a lengthy two hours and thirty three minutes, Heliovaara eliminated the Ukrainian by bouncing back from a set down to conquer a 7-5, 6-7(3) 6-2 victory.
Opting to serve first was Heliovaara as she had won the toss and both the players managed to bag a game on their service games to tie the score at 1-1. However, in the third game Heliovaara held his serve by smashing a crosscourt shot and in the fourth capitalized on a break to take the lead at 3-1. In the next four games the players won on alternate games and the score had further shifted to 5-3 by the end of the eighth game.
Heliovaara was unable to close the set in the seventh game and even in the next three games! Mean while, Molchanov utilized the serve-break-serve method to reel three games and tied the score at 5-5. It was during the last two games that Heliovaara was finally able to clog the opening set with a 7-5 victory.
During the second set, Heliovaara had taken the lead at 3-0 in the first three games. And in the next four games the players held their serves to rotate the scoreboard at 5-2 with the Finnish leading the set.
It seemed history was repeating itself as he was again unable to close the set but this time Molchanov pushed the set into a tiebreaker. Molchanov struck a pot of gold as he clinched the tiebreaker at 7-3 and bagged the second set.
By the end of the second set, each player had bagged a set and opening the third set was Molchanov and he was unable to ward off his opponent and endorsed a game to Heliovaara.
On the other hand, Heliovaara capitalized on a lucky break and rotated the scoreboard with a mini lead at 2-0. In the following four games the players bagged a game each and the scoreboard had shifted to 4-2 at the end of the sixth game.
In the seventh game Molchanov had battled a few aces but eventually erred and endorsed a crucial breakpoint to his adversary, who had bagged a game. Heliovaara was now only a game away and as he held his serve, he sealed his victory of the match to secure a place in the second round of the tournament.
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