<p><strong><span>Izak Van Der Merwe</span></strong><span> <strong><span>knocks out Jamie Baker</span></strong> <strong><span>in 1<sup>st</sup> round – Charlottesville Challenger 2011</span></strong></span></p>
<p><span>Fifth seeded South African Izak Van Der Merwe knocked out British Jamie Baker in the first round of the Charlottesville Challenger 2011.</span></p>
<p><span>After battling for one hour and fifty one minutes on indoor hard courts of the Boar’s Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, Virginia, Merwe scored 7-6(1), 6-4 against Baker on Tuesday the 1<sup>st</sup> of November 2011.</span></p>
<p><span>Kicking open the first round of the match was Merwe and he battled a few aces to finally hold his serve and initiated the scoreboard at 1-0. Following his trail was Baker and he too held his serve to place himself on the scoreboard at 1-1. In subsequent
two games the players tied the score at 2-2 with a hold of serve each.</span></p>
<p><span>In the fifth game Merwe held his serve and by the sixth, he capitalized on a break to take a mini lead of two games on the scoreboard. Once more the challengers bagged a game each in subsequent two games and by the end of the eighth game, Merwe was
leading the set with a 5-3 score.</span></p>
<p><span>Although Merwe had a couple of chances to close the match in the following games, h e was just unable to do so. Mean while, Baker took hold of the opportunity by utilizing the serve-break-serve technique to tie the score at five games each in the tenth
game.</span></p>
<p><span>As the players matched a blow for a blow, the set was eventually plunged into tiebreaker at six games each by the end of the twelfth game. Amidst the tiebreaker, the head-to-head run between the two players lost vapour and Merwe rushed past his opponent
to clinch the tiebreaker at 7-1. The fifth seed bagged the opening set and had taken an edge in the match.</span></p>
<p><span>Baker carried the head-to-head run into the second set as well and he was not ready to throw in the towel. However, as he served first for the second set, he double faulted in the first game and endorsed the only breakpoint of the set to his adversary.</span></p>
<p><span>From there onwards, the players matched an eye for an eye and in the following four games neither player lost control, allowing them to bag their service games. By the end of the sixth game Merwe was leading with a 4-2 score. During the last four games
the two rivals continued their neck-on-neck run and in doing so; Merwe was able to fasten his victory of the set and the match.</span></p>
<p><span>Merwe will now face Canadian Erik Chvojka in the second round of the Charlottesville Challenger.</span></p>
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