Julien Benneteau moves into semi-final as Malek Jaziri retires – Open De Rennes 2011 CH
Third seeded Julien Benneteau thrashed Tunisian Malek Jaziri in the quarterfinal of the Open De Rennes 2011, an event on the ATP Challenger Tour. The two players took up swords on the indoor hard courts in Rennes, France. On Friday
the 14th of October 2011, after two hours and four minutes the third seeded Frenchman got rid of the lower ranked Tunisian with a score of 5-7, 7-5, 3-0.
The third seeded Frenchman decided to initiate the first round of the match and he held his serve in the opening game to place himself on the scoreboard at 1-0. He then capitalized on a breakpoint and took a lead of 2-0 on the
scoreboard. He further increased his lead by holding his serve to move the scoreboard to a 3-0 score. It was in the fourth game Jaziri made a return by holding his serve and reduced the deficit to 2-4 in the sixth game.
During the following two games the players each won a service game and the scoreboard had advanced to 5-3. In the ninth game Benneteau slipped and double faulted giving a game to his adversary, who then held his serve and tied
the score at 5-5. At this point the match could’ve titled either way but Jaziri again repeated the feat and clogged away with a 7-5 victory of the opening set.
After taking a thrashing in the opening set, Benneteau pulled up his socks and initiated the second round of the match. Both the players were successfully able to hold their serves and rotated the scoreboard to 1-1. As they again
held serve in the following two games the score had tied at 2-2.
The players matched a blow for a blow and the score progressed on even terms with the two breaking each other back-to-back by the end of the sixth game. By the end of the eighth game the score was once more levelled at 4-4 as the
two again held serve. Eventually in at the end of the tenth game the toe-to-toe run came to another gridlock at 5-5. It was in the twelfth game that Jaziri’s forehand shot went wayward, while, Benneteau had bagged the second set with a 7-5 victory.
By the end of the first two sets the players had each bagged a set apiece and opening the decisive set was Benneteau, who held his serve and opened the scoreboard at 1-0. He then capitalized on a break in the second game and as
she held serve in the third game the scoreboard had shifted at 3-0 with Frenchman leading the match.
However, Jaziri wasn’t well as he had injured himself in the lower back area and called for a medical examiner after which he decided not to play any further.
Next up for Julien Benneteau is Spanish Roberto Bautista-Agut in the semi-final of the event.
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