Izak Van Der Merwe ousts Facundo Bagnis in 1st round – L, G & T Tennis Challenger 2011
Number one seed Izak Van Der Merwe made a sensational come back to crush Facundo Bagnis of Argentina 6-7(2), 7-6 (3), 6-3 on Tuesday to book his place in the second round of 2011 Levene, Gouldin & Thompson Tennis Challenger here
in Binghamton, New York.
Facundo Bagnis made a strong start to the match as he timed his forehand and backhand winners to perfection. Breaking the Frenchman in sixth game of the opening set, he took a very crucial 4-2 lead. Van Der Merwe put up a great
fight to stay in the set. Breaking back, he managed to take the set into a tie-breaker. However, in the tie-breaker, Bagnis showed no signs of nerves as he clinched five straight points to take the set score lead.
Looking to find an entry back into the contest, Van Der Merwe displayed some high quality tennis in the second set. Using his wonderful attacking abilities, he created all sorts of problems for his opponent. Playing exceptionally
well from the baseline, he converted several rallies in his favour to dent Bagnis confidence levels. The Russian held on to his serve games to force the set into the tie-breaker and then showed amazing fighting abilities and determination to even the set score
1-1.
Playing his natural game freely in the final set as well, Van Der Merwe broke the serve at regular intervals. Hitting a blistering serve ace, he took a handsome 5-2 lead in the set. Breaking his opponent in the very next game,
he sealed the battle that lasted for more than 2 hours and 26 minutes on the hard courts of Binghamton.
Ranked 123rd in the Association of Tennis Professional’s Rankings, Van Der Merwe proved just why he is such a dangerous opponent. Despite losing the first set in a demoralizing fashion, the Russian still kept his focus
on the game. He required a very special performance to comeback from a set down and he came up with one to surprise the odds.
Firing seventeen serves aces in the match; Van Der Merwe was able to hit his way out of the trouble whenever he needed. Not wasting too many opportunities, he secured more than 76 per cent of the points on his first serve.
Taking chances on his second serve as well, the luck favoured him at most of the occasions. His formidable defence proved to be the real difference between the two men as he saved four out of five break points during the contest.
He will be hoping to continue his decent form in his upcoming matches of the competition as well.
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