Jimmy Wang outlasts Marius Copil in the final qualifier – US Open 2012
Ranked 182nd in the world, Jimmy Wang of Chinese Taipei fought back from a deficit of one set to beat Romania’s Marius Copil 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(3) in the final round of the qualifying draw at the US Open in New York.
Wang and Copil held their serve in the first nine games to take the score to 5-4 in favour of the latter. Serving to stay in the set at that moment, Wang failed to hold and dropped it 4-6.
The Taiwanese raised the level of his game after losing the opener, capturing opening four games of the second set to race to a 4-0 lead. Copil avoided a bagel by holding his serve in the fifth to reduce the trail to 1-4 but he
failed to win it in the seventh one and went down 1-6.
Wang and Copil put on a tremendous display of serving in the decider, as none of them allowed the other to claim a break till the end, levelling the proceedings at 6-6 and forcing a tie-breaker. The Taiwanese contender took a 3-1
lead at its start and maintained his advantage throughout to clinch it 7-6(3).
Wang will now lock horns with the world number 75, Ivo Karlovic of Croatia, in the first round of the main draw. The 6ft 10in tall, Karlovic, is a winner of four career titles and a former world number 14.
The winner of these two will either meet USA’s Michael Russell or the 16th seeded player from France, Gilles Simon, in the second round.
In another final qualifier, Karol Beck of Slovakia toppled Spain’s Robert Bautista-Agut in straight sets 6-3, 6-1 to move to the main draw.
Beck and Bautista-Agut exchanged a break of serve in the first four games to equalise the score at 2-2. The Slovakian captured four of the next five games to seal it 6-3.
In the second set, Beck played almost flawlessly, allowing Bautista-Agut to clinch only one game till the end and capturing it 6-1.
The Slovakian is pitted against the fifth seed, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, in the opening match of the main round.
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