Izak Van Der Merwe rushes past Victor Estrella in 2nd round – Knoxville Challenger 2011
Fourth seeded South African Izak Van Der Merwe surmounts Victor Estrella in the first round of the Knoxville Challenger 2011.
On the 9th of November 2011, the two competitors had battled it out on indoor hard courts of the University of Tennessee’s Goodfriend Tennis Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA and it took Merwe one hour and forty two
minutes to do away with Estrella in straight sets of 6-3, 7-6(5).
Although Merwe had smashed three aces, he had also double faulted three times in the opening set. Nonetheless, he managed to hit 70 percent of his first serves on target and accomplished 60 percent of his total service points,
along with, an average return which assisted him in attaining a 53 percent of his total return points won in the opening set.
In addition, he saved an eighty percent of his breakpoints and capitalized on 50 percent of breakpoints won.
Merwe had opted to serve first as he had won the service toss and he got off to a good start as he reeled off straight two games with a hold of serve and by capitalizing on a breakpoint in the second game to take a mini lead of
2-0 on the scoreboard. During the third game Estrella made a return by breaking back and by the fourth game, he had equalized the score at two games each, with a hold of serve.
In the fifth game Merwe battled a few deuces to ward off Estrella and he finally managed to hold his serve but in the sixth game, Estrella double faulted and gifted a game to his opponent, who had taken a mini lead of 4-2. In the
following two games, the players held their service games and Merwe was now only a game away from victory. As he held his serve for the last time, he clogged the opening set with a 6-2 victory.
Amidst the second set, the players matched a blow for a blow and they held their serves for the first eight games to tie the score at four games each. However, the two challengers kept matching an eye for an eye and the score balanced
out at five games each. Finally as they bagged another game each, the set was pushed into a tiebreaker by the end of the twelfth game.
The toe-to-toe leg carried on well into the tiebreaker and the two once more matched each other’s serves. Nonetheless, with a series of breaks and holds the fourth seeded South African rushed past Estrella to clinch the tiebreaker
at 7-5. In doing so; the South African managed to reserve a spot in t he second round of the tournament where he will be facing American qualifier Brian Baker.
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