Julien Benneteau defeats Feliciano Lopez at BNP Paribas Open
Julien Benneteau of France defeated Spain’s Feliciano Lopez in straight sets during first round of the BNP Paribas Open, being held at the Indian Wells Tennis Gardens in Indian Wells, California. The match lasted an hour and 24
minutes and finished with a final score line of 6-4, 6-4.
The BNP Paribas Open is the year’s first ATP level 1000 Masters Event and is colloquially known as the Indian Wells Masters. A total field of 96 players takes part in the tournament, which is contested as a 7 Round knock-out tournament
over the course of two weeks. It is thus the longest lasting tennis event after the four grand slams. Also, it is the most popular tennis tournament in terms of fan attendance, again after the four grand slams.
Benneteau is currently ranked 82nd in the world on the South African Airways ATP Singles Rankings. He is 29 years old and based in Geneva, Switzerland. In 2010, he was ranked as high as 32nd in the world.
His opponent, Lopez, is currently the world no.41. Also 29 years old, the experienced Spaniard has been playing for 13 years professionally. He has two ATP tour titles to his name and has been competing at the highest level for nearly a decade. In defeating
an opponent ranked so much higher than himself, Benneteau actually upset all expectations.
The Frenchman has been doing this to the Spaniard for quite a while now though. His head to head against Lopez becomes 3-1 with this victory. The last time the two met was during the Davis Cup 2010 World Group quarterfinals. Then,
Benneteau was part of the team that upset Spain. In fact, he contributed to the victory with a 7-6, 6-4 victory over Lopez.
So while the Spaniard was the technical favorite going into the match, Benneteau had every chance of upsetting him right from the start. Soon enough, the factor of the Frenchman’s better history came into play. The first set saw
both players serve quite well. The 29 year old from Bourg en Bresse landed in 64 per cent of his first serves correctly, and Lopez was close behind with 60 per cent of his first serves being correct. The Spaniard was actually better at converting serves into
points, as he won 80 per cent of the points off his first serve and 60 per cent off his second. His opponent lagged behind with 70 per cent and 53 per cent respectively. It was all a matter of timing though, as after saving 3 break points, the Frenchman came
from behind to break Lopez on the only break point he gave up, thus taking the set 6-4.
The second set was much the same, but this time Benneteau was actually ahead of Lopez. He claimed 73 per cent of his points on serve and landed in 60 per cent of his first serves compared to Lopez’s 47 per cent to dominate the
set. He then created 5 chances to break, and availing one of them, sealed the match in his favor.
In the second round, Benneteau takes on world no.10 Jurgen Melzer of Austria. Melzer was in action against Benneteau’s country France recently in Davis Cup action, where he was felled by Jeremy Chardy once. The world no.82 will
look to emulate his countryman’s feat by causing an upset larger than the one he just caused.
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