Julian Knowle battles past Christopher Rungkat in the second qualifying round – Malaysian Open 2012
Left-hander, Julian Knowle, shocked his rival and confidently marched in the final qualifying round of the Malaysian Open 2012 held at the hard courts of Kuala Lumpur. The Austrian veteran summed up his straight sets, 6-3, 6-2
win against Christopher Rungkat on the eve of Saturday in nearly 64 minutes.
Ranked 297th in the South Africa Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Rungkat, initially contested against his contender with a strong resolve to dominate the set and due to this he levelled down the score line twice i.e.
in the fourth game to 2-2 and sixth game by 3-3. On the other hand, his strength quickly died down and Knowle took note of his rival progress card and quickly wrapped up the set with his 6-3 lead.
Both players fired four aces apiece but the Indonesian tennis professional secured 79 percent first serve accuracy, converting 10 of 15 first and three of four second delivery points. The Austrian senior double faulted twice and
had lower first serve precision of 48 percent. Nonetheless, Knowle had a remarkable first point conservation rate as he attained all 13 points first and nine of 14 second delivery points.
The 38-year-old, Knowle confidently drew the first flood and broke his rival’s serve in the third game. This completely shattered Rungkat’s confidence and gradually he became impossible for him to strike back. The Austrian participant
successfully preserved his serve all through the set without facing a single torment. Moving towards the end, he again grasped of his opponent’s low morale and broke his serve. Eventually he gleefully finished the match with his incredible 6-2 win.
The Austrian professional bombarded his rival with five aces and did not commit double fault once. He had an average initial serve presentation of 40 percent, pocketing away six of eight first and 10 of 12 second serve points.
On the other hand, Rungkat had 69 percent first serve precision, with 12 of 18 first and one of eight second serve points. He could not even capitalize even a single serve break, whereas Knowle bagged away two of five bestowed upon him.
For the next round of the qualifiers, the Austrian will battle against the Japanese, Toshihide Matsui.
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