Juan Monaco battles past Cedrik-Marcel Stebe into the round of 16 – German Tennis Championships 2012
Seeded third in the draw, Juan Monaco of Argentina faced a scare before beating the world number 83, Germany’s Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, in the first round of the Bet-at-home German Tennis Championships in Hamburg on Tuesday.
The Argentinean needed two hours and 41 minutes to battle past his opponent in three sets 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 in a hard fought encounter.
Monaco went ahead at the start of the match, nailing a break in the very first game and clinching his following serve to gain a 2-0 lead. Although, the local player struck back in the fourth one to even out the score at 2-2. Monaco
hit another blow in the fifth game and this time he sustained his lead till the end to triumph 6-4.
The Argentinean gave a good performance on his first serves, as he fired an ace and kept the percentage on 74, winning 14 of the 20 points on them. The 6ft 1in tall also fared impressively on the returns, as he claimed eight of
the 20 first and nine of the 16 second reply points in the opener.
Stebe stunned everyone with his brilliant performance in the second set. The German hit blow to his higher ranked opponent in the second and fourth game, holding his opening three serves to race to a 5-0 lead. Monaco managed to
avoid embarrassment as he captured the following five to take the score to a respectable position of 3-5. However, he could not come on equal terms, as Stebe served out the set at that moment.
The German did not match Monaco’s opening set’s first serve performance, as he maintained a below average first serve percentage of 67 and pocketed just 10 of the 16 points on them. Though, he made the difference with his remarkable
showing on the second ones, bagging seven of the eight points on them.
Stebe and Monaco exchanged a couple of breakthroughs in the first 10 games of the decider, squaring off the score at 5-5. The Argentinean raised his standard at the end, capturing two in a row to grab it 7-5.
After the match, Monaco said, “It was very close. It could’ve been for him. He served for the match, but I still fought all the time, every point, never gave up. Tennis is like this. You’re still there, you have a chance. He served
to win, but he couldn’t. Then I had a chance.”
The Argentinean will face Spain’s Daniel Munoz-De La Nava in the second round.
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