Julien Benneteau upsets Nicolas Almagro in opening round – US Open 2011
French wild card entrant Julien Benneteau moved into the second round of the 2011 US Open at Flushing Meadows, New York on Wednesday, 31st August after upsetting tenth seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro.
In a surprise loss and the third in the exodus of seeds, Almagro held out for nearly two hours before crashing out of the event in straight sets recording a 2-6, 4-6, 3-6 defeat.
Winning the toss, Almagro opened serve and for the first four games managed to match the wildcard entrant. However, come fifth game, things started to fall apart. Hitting shots long and wide Almagro practically handed over the
breakpoint to his opponent. Holding his own successfully, Benneteau extended his lead in the set to 4-2 before converting yet another breakpoint opportunity to his advantage. Leading 5-2, Benneteau served out the set without losing a single point securing
a 6-2 win for himself. Although the two matched each other in every set, it was the lucky breaks for the Frenchman that allowed him to convert opportunities to his advantage and go one up in the set score.
If the first set beating wasn’t enough for the Spaniard, the second set proved to be a complete disaster. Battling it out for nearly an hour, Almagro squandered eight breakpoint opportunities against the Frenchman who rode a single
BP to clinch a 6-4 win for himself in the second set, securing a 2-0 lead in the set score.
Down and definitely out, Almagro crumbled under the pressure in the third and final set as he once more fell prey to a weak defence. Allowing the Frenchman to continue with his assault, Almagro could barely manage to hold his own
games let alone turn the tables on Benneteau. Scraping three game wins, Almagro finally bowed out of the match as Benneteau secured a 6-3 win, sealing his straight sets victory.
Benneteau now moves on ahead to play, Denis Istomin. Istomin moved into the second round of the event after ousting local lad, Ryan Harrison. Bouncing back from a set down, the Uzbek professional recorded a 3-6, 7-5, 6-4, 7-6(4)
win over Harrison taking close to three hours.
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