Hiroki Moriya edges past Sho Katayama in the opening round clash – Dunlop World Challenge 2012 CH
Fifth seed local contender, Hiroki Moriya, spent merely 73 minutes to outplay his fellow compatriot, Sho Katayama, in the opening round of the Dunlop World Challenge on Monday. He settled the clash in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, to
reach the second round of the ATP Challenger Tour event in Toyota, Japan.
The 22-year-old Japanese winner took the reins of the momentum right from the beginning and held them until the conclusion of the match. Moriya took the better of the other Japanese contender in most segments of the game and didn’t
allow a single opportunity to Katayama to come on top. His serve game proved to be his greatest strength and he never let his counterpart to break it in the entire contest.
185th ranked Moriya was off to an ideal start in the opening set, breaking his opponent in his very first serve game to impose a 3-0 lead in no time. He had another break opportunity in the sixth game but couldn’t capitalize
on it. However, Katayama utterly failed to craft a single break opportunity and remained on the back foot throughout the set. The fifth seed Japanese held on to his lead and served out of the first set at 5-3.
Katayama was off to a steady start in the following set and held his opening three serves to level the score line to 3-3. Moriya nailed a crucial break point in the seventh game get into a 4-3 lead and held in his own serve to
reach 5-3 comprehensively. Katayama could hold just another serve in the match before the fifth seeded hot favourite wrapped up the proceedings at 6-4 in style.
Moriya delivered 62 per cent of his first serve on target and claimed 26 out of 36 points on it to come out as the deserving winner. He had five break opportunities in the entire matchup but only two conversions proved sufficient
to hunt down the underdog contestant. On the other hand, Katayama did manage to reel off 28 out of 42 first serve points in the match but utterly failed to register even one break point. His bleak baseline defence played a vital role in his defeat and he had
to finish off his voyage at Toyota in a dismal manner.
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