Jan Hernych rallies past Santiago Giraldo into the quarter-finals – Credit Agricole Suisse Open 2012
Czech qualifier, Jan Hernych, reached his first tour-level quarter-final since 2009 by outlasting the seventh seed, Santiago Giraldo of Colombia, in three sets 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 in the round of 16 at the Credit Agricole Suisse Open
in Gstaad, Switzerland on Thursday. The Czech contestant required an hour and 52 minutes to topple his opponent in a tough contest.
Hernych made sure that Giraldo could not settle down in the match, as he captured opening three games to race to a 3-0 lead. The Czech player did not allow his higher ranked rival to come back till the end, sealing it 6-3.
Both players smacked a couple of aces and did not make any double fault in the first set. Giraldo’s performance was better than Hernych in almost all the other departments of the game but he failed to play well in crunch situations,
losing his entire right break opportunities and failing to save one of the two threats he faced.
The second set saw both players breaking each other on a number of occasions. Giraldo made a good start, capturing first two games to attain a 2-0 advantage. Hernych struck back in the third to reduce the trail to 1-2 but his Colombian
opponent grabbed three in a row after that to build a 5-1 lead. The Czech participant made one last try to stage a comeback by breaking Giraldo in the seventh and closing the deficit to 2-5 but he failed to hold his next serve, going down 2-6.
Giraldo fared satisfactorily on the serves, banging in a single ace and 71 percent of the first deliveries. The Colombian contender pocketed 10 of the 20 first and four of the eight second serve points. However, the best part of
his game were his replies to his rival’s deliveries, as he claimed 14 of the 19 first and five of the eight second return points in the second set.
In contrast to the first two sets, Giraldo and Hernych made a steady start in the decider, holding their serve in the opening three games to equalise the proceedings at 3-3. Hernych picked up momentum later on, winning three of
the following four to capture it 6-4.
The Czech player will now lock horns with the top seed, Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, for a place in the last four. Tipsarevic survived past Martin Fischer in three sets in the second round.
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