Jan Hernych upsets Federico Delbonis in quarter-final - Ortisei Challenger 2011
Jan Hernych of Czech Republic flabbergasted Argentine Federico Delbonis in the quarter-final match during the Ortisei Challenger tournament, contested in Italy at Bross Slides carpet courts on Friday November 11th. Victory
for Czech helped him clinch maiden head-to-head tally in their first encounter of their careers. The match was finished in just over an hour and nine minutes with 6-4, 6-3 score line.
Delbonis was having the worst time of his life at the courts as he lost bulk of his encounters in recent past whilst his opponent was enjoying relatively a delightful run of form and had won six out of last nine encounters.
Argentine didn’t play on carpet recently before this tournament and struggled to make a mark in this tournament. Yesterday his misery was doubled when Czech hammered him across all corners of the courts.
World No.208, Hernych, made full use of his prolific form and hammered World No.176, Delbonis. First set was started by the loser and held his serve to clinch first game. His opponent held on to his serve as well and score was
pushed to 1-1.
First major break came in the third game when Czech capitalized on his first allotted breakpoint opportunity by smashing a perfectly placed forehand winner. He kept his concentration levels high and took two games by holding on
to his serve and pushing the score to 3-1 in his favour.
Delbonis tried hard to break his rival’s serve but his opponent didn’t provide him any chance whatsoever. The scoreboard kept ticking over and Hernych kept his lead till the end and made the life of his opponent as hard as he could.
Trailing one set down and feeling pressure of consequences of an upset, Delbonis started the set in good fashion but it seemed like his mind was still stuck in the first set. He was trying his level best but somehow he made some
kind of mistake that ruined his all efforts. Score kept ticking and moved to 2-2 and then to 3-3 without much drama.
Hernych had smashed two aces while his opponent already committed two double-faults under pressure. Czech was so miserly in providing any sort of opportunity to break his serve and gave no opportunity in the second set as well.
However, he sprayed three chances to break in the first six games and left his competitor’s chances alive.
The fourth opportunity to break was not missed by the Czech player who broke in the seventh and then again in the ninth game to seal the second set win in commanding fashion. He now faces the top seed Philipp Petzschner in the
semi-final match.
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