Julien Benneteau surprises Sergiy Stakhovsky in quarterfinal – Winston-Salem Open 2011
The ATP Tour 250 event closed up to its final rounds as Sergiy Stakhovsky, Ukrainian, walked on at the Wake Forest University, Winston Salem, USA hard court on Thursday, 25th August, to play against his quarter-final
round challenger Julien Benneteau.
Working up in the Winston-Salem Open draws, the two opened up the last quarter-final match of the ATP Tour Event ended up with Julien Benneteau striking off the Ukrainian world No.41 off the draw table and into the semis.
Ranked at world No.114, Benneteau presented the 25-year-old with a stunner, beating him 3-6, 7-6(9), 6-2 in the round of 8. The match went on for more than 130 minutes before the lower ranked Frenchman took away the win.
Playing each other for the 3rd time, Stakhovsky expected a win as he had already dominated in the prior two head-to-head games, however, the Frenchman has a marvellous winning streak of six matches unbeaten and made
this his seventh.
Moving on with the match, the two kicked off with the quarter-final round with a handful of spectators to support their respective players. Serving first with the starter, Stakhovsky opened up and took out the first game of the
match.
Following his rival, Benneteau won on his serve levelling the scores and switching the serve to the Ukrainian. The scores hiked up with the two levelling up at 2-2, 3-3, and then at 4-4 before Stakhovsky broke in game 8 and took
the lead.
The world No.41 extended his 5-3 lead to his win in the first set, 6-3, and moved onto the set 2.
Benneteau, 29-years-old, started off the second set with serving first followed by the 25-year-old Ukrainian levelling up next. Battling out the set equally, the two levelled up at 2-2, 3-3, 4-4 and then at 5-5 leading on to an
eventual tiebreaker.
Looking out for an early win Stakhovsky gave it his best shot, however, was redeemed of an early win as he lost the tiebreaker 7-6(9) after a tough battle.
Opening up for the final round of the quarter-final battle, Benneteau opened up again and took the advantage lead. Following up with the Frenchman, Stakhovsky levelled up the scores winning game 2 and switched the serve.
Knowing that it was their last chance into the semis, the two gave in their best breaking each other game after game, however, Benneteau’s performance was well above that of Stakhovsky. Breaking his challenger 3 times in the decider,
the Frenchman blistered the final set winning 6-2 and walking off the hard court with a deserving win.
Winning off with a superb finish, Benneteau lead on into the semi-final round of Winston-Salem Open 2011 to play against the Dutch superstar, Robin Haase, in order to qualify for the final round of the ATP Tour 250 event.
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