Igor Sijsling upsets Arnaud Clement in the opening round – Open Castilla y Leon 2011 CH
The crowd at Segovia, Spain, was in for a surprise, as the eighth seeded Frenchman, Arnaud Clement, crashed out of the first round of Open Castilla y Leon at the hands of Igor Sijsling of Netherlands on Monday afternoon.
Unseeded in the tournament, Sijsling came up with a phenomenal performance with the racquet to dispose of the eighth seeded competitor in the enthralling three-setter. The Dutch concluded his victory at 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(8), taking
two hours and eleven minutes of play to make it in to the second round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour event
A number of momentum swings were seen in the matchup but Sijsling kept his game focused to come out as the winner in the end. He took the opening set with complete authority but the eighth seeded Clement made a very strong comeback
in the following set to level the matchup with one set a piece. A nail biting third set was played and the Dutch finally outplayed his opponent in the last minutes of play to register victory.
Errant stroke play of Clement played a vital role in his defeat, so did his seven costly double faults on the crucial points in the game. The opening set took off with sheer aggression from both men and a series of serve breaks
were seen right away, with both contestants trading a total of six break points among them. Consecutive serve breaks from both players were witnessed in the opening five games of the matchup, taking the scores to 3-2, with the Dutch leading. A fourth break
point conversion from Sijsling proved enough for him to seal out the opening set in his name at 6-3 to get the upper hand in the matchup.
Tide turned in the following set and the eighth seed launched a chain of aggressive moves upon his opponent and nailed two straight serve breaks to race away to 5-0 lead. He closed out the second set at 6-1 to level the contest
but failed to sustain his momentum in the final set.
The third set went to the wire and ended up in the tie breaker round, with both men failing to register a serve break. Sijsling stung a crucial mini-break in the last moments of the game to stun the French competitor at 7-6(8)
and moved into the second round of the tournament. The Dutch will compete against the winner of the match between Frederik Nielsen and Gregoire Burquier in the second round.
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