Jeremy Chardy upsets Alexandr Dolgopolov in 2nd round – Kremlin Cup 2011
Jeremy Chardy, French world No.133 went on to play world No.17, Alexandr Dolgopolov, seeded third in Kremlin Cup 2011, at the Olympic Stadium hard indoor court, Moscow, Russia. Battling out for an hour and 24 minutes on Thursday, 20th October, Frenchman nuked the Ukrainian counterpart in a straight sets victory, upsetting the second round of the ATP World Tour 250 event.
Despite the disparity in ranking, Chardy manoeuvred an easy straight set victory over the Ukrainian with mere difficulty. With this their third head-to-head fixture, Frenchman gazed away his second win to lead the score 2 matches to one.
Anyhow, with the 24-year-old winning the toss, served out the first game of the match and rolled down the scoreboard, 1-0. Dolgopolov served next, however, broke down early and gave away the lead, 0-2. Losing down his opening serve, Ukrainian 22-year-old broke back first and levelled up the scores serving out game 4, 2-2.
As the two carried onto the final games, Dolgopolov had a tough time judging if he was the world No.17 or was he playing the world no.1. Nevertheless, with the two winning a game each next, levelled up at 3-3 before the French world No.133 gave a final blow.
Serving out game 7, 4-3, Chardy broke the higher ranked 22-year-old in game 8, to lead the set 5-3. Left with one more win, the 24-year-old slammed a backhand winner bagging the final game, game 9, and the set, 6-3, to lead the match.
With an insulting first set lost, Dolgopolov served first for set two rolling down the scoreboard, 1-0. Following up with a winner, Chardy levelled up the scores with an equally matched offence, 1-1. With the two swirling up the scoreboard winning games, levelled up at 2-2, 3-3, 4-4 and on 5-5.
Unable to break each other throughout, the set ended up in a tiebreaker with Dolgopolov serving first. Serving out the first two points, the Ukrainian held a strong position; on the other hand, Chardy had his eyes on the match win.
Levelling up at 6-6, Chardy served out the last two points snatching away the match from the higher ranked competitor winning the second set, 7-6(6), to walk into the quarter-final round of the ATP World Tour 250 event.
Proving that a high rank does not make a difference, Chardy now moves on to the quarter-final round to play Philipp Kohlschreiber, German, to clash out for the semis seat of the 2011 Kremlin Cup.
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