Julien Benneteau overcomes Andrey Kuznetsov in the first round – Swiss Indoors Basel 2012
World number 37, France’s Julien Benneteau, fought back from a set down to beat the 73rd ranked player, Andrey Kuznetsov of Russia, in three sets 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the opening round of the Swiss Indoors Basel. This ATP
World Tour 500 indoor hard court event is being held in Switzerland.
Kuznetsov was first to take lead, as he hit a blow to the Frenchman in the third game and held his following serve to grab a 3-1 lead. Though, Benneteau broke back in the sixth to square it off at 3-3. Kuznetsov struck again in
the seventh game and capitalised on it this time to triumph 6-4.
The Russian contestant fired two aces and committed one double fault in the opening set. He had a low first serve percentage of 48 and claimed nine of the 14 points on them. The 21-year-old youngster saved one of the two break
points he faced and converted two of the four he received.
Second set saw a more stable performance by both players, as they did not drop their serve in the first seven games to take the score to 4-3 in favour of Benneteau. The French national nailed a break in the eighth and made the
most of it to win 6-3.
Benneteau looked unstoppable on his serve, as he pounded six aces on his Russian opponent and also captured 15 of the 16 first delivery points. The 6ft 1in tall grabbed three of the six second returns and availed one of the two
break opportunities he created in the second set.
The Frenchman took lead straightaway in the decider, stinging a break in the first game and holding his subsequent serve to gain a 2-0 lead. There was no strike from either of the two players in the following six, taking the score
to 5-3 in favour of Benneteau. However, Kuznetsov failed to hold his serve at that moment and lost it 3-6.
Benneteau needed one hour and 44 minutes to capture this hard fought win over his rival.
The French player will meet the eighth seed, Viktor Troicki, or Grigor Dimitrov in the round two.
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