Jan Mertl battles past Joao Sousa into the second round – UniCredit Open 2012 CH
World number 182, Jan Mertl of Czech Republic, took full advantage of his home ground, as he surprised Brazil’s Joao Sousa, ranked 118th in the world, in three sets 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 in the opening round at the UniCredit
Open in Czech Republic on Wednesday. It took the Czech player two hours and 38 minutes to come out triumphant from a hard fought contest.
Mertl and Sousa did not play consistently at the start of the match, as they lost a combined total of five serves in the first set. However, the Czech snatched three of those five breaks to seal it 6-4.
Neither of the two players hit an ace or committed any double fault in the opening set. Mertl kept his first serve percentage at 59 and pocketed 10 of the 16 points on them. He did quite well on the replies to the Brazilian’s serves,
claiming 11 of the 19 first and four of the eight second return points.
In contrast to the opener, Mertl and Sousa made a steady start in the second set, as they did not lose their serve in the first 10 games to equalise the score at 5-5. The Brazilian struck in the 11th and made the most
of it to win 7-5.
Souza banged in one ace and did not made any double fault in the second set. He maintained a decent first delivery percentage of 75 and converted 22 of the 27 of them into points. The 6ft 4in tall looked rusty on returns, losing
14 of the 18 first and eight of the 13 second ones. The Brazilian put away the only break threat he came across and utilised the one opportunity he got.
In the final set, Souza and Mertl swapped two breaks of serve in the first eight games, evening out the score at 4-4. The Czech won his serve in the ninth to move ahead 5-4 and struck decisively in the 10th to close
it 6-4.
Mertl fired a couple of aces and 69 percent of the first deliveries, clinching 13 of the 20 points on them. He could not perform well on the second ones, as he lost six of the nine points but compensated that by giving a tremendous
performance on the second returns, snatching nine of the 11 points. The Czech was unable to save any of the two break points he faced but succeeded in converting three of the seven he received in the decider.
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