Hiroki Moriya prevails over Yuichi Sugita in the semi-finals – Dunlop World Challenge 2012
In the all-Japanese contest, Hiroki Moriya battled through the semi-final of the 2012 Dunlop World Challenge Tennis Tournament held at the Taraflex courts of Toyota, Japan. He gave a remarkable shock to his top seeded, Yuichi Sugita,
on the eve of Saturday, consolidating his straight sets triumph 7-6(5), 6-2 and journeyed forward with a strong resolve to clinch the top rank.
The two challengers contested against one another seven times in the past at their home ground. Earlier in the start of November 2012, the higher ranked, Sugita, gave his opponent a straight-sets defeat 6-3, 6-2 at the Yokohama
Challenger. In the year 2009, the two players took turns to avenge their conquests in all the ATP tournaments they played together. At the Japan F7, the higher ranked Japanese contestant battled through the semi-final and summed up his three set win 6-3, 4-6,
6-2.
Despite of his lower rank, 22-year-old Moriya confidently drew the first blood but faced increasing pressure from his counterpart. The score line levelled down to 2-all in the fourth game and the two contestants preserved their
serves for the initial part of the opener. The right-hander Japanese junior attained his destined win in the eighth game and marked a 5-3 lead. Sugita did not give up and displayed his greater experience by squaring down the scoreboard to 6-all and terminated
the set with a tiebreaker. After a close-set battle between the two players, Moriya, nudged forward and stole the lime with a 7-6(5) score.
Ranked 116th in the South African ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour Rankings, Sugita maintained his initial serve in the following set. The Japanese junior secured the frontline after cashing on his
competitors lone serve break opportunity in the third game. The fifth seeded truly established his worth as right-hander, Sugita, was unable to sustain the pressure. Moriya beautifully dusted away his contender every time he jumped forward to secure a game.
As the contest progressed towards the end, Moriya dissolved his seniors serve and took a flying start, closing the match with a 6-2 victory.
Calculating the overall match stats, Moriya had an average initial serve of 59 percent precision and thundered forward by smashing six aces, with two double faults. He pocketed away 28 of 40 first and 14 of 28 second serve points.
On the other hand, the 24-year-old, Sugita, clinched 58 percent first serve accuracy with a remarkable score of eight aces. He attained 25 of 40 first and 15 of 29 second delivery points in retaliation.
Tags: