Kaichi Uchida ousts Mate Pavic; labours into Boys’ Singles semi-final – Wimbledon Championships 2011
Japanese Kaichi Uchida rallied past eight seeded Croat Mate Pavic in a troublesome three setter match to register a surprise 4-6, 7-6(7), 10-8 victory in Boys’ Singles – Wimbledon Championships 2011, a Grand Slam event held on
the grass courts of London, England. He earned this victory to advance into the last four on Thursday.
The Japanese overpower the big serves, Pavic in almost two and half hours to secure a last four spot at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. He was a set down when he bounced to down the seed in a three set nail biter match.
The seeded Croat, who downed Frederico Ferre Silva in a three setter match to set-up this battle, made quick in-roads in the opening set at Court Seven. He fished out easy points to quickly bag his entire serves. Pavic then converted
one out of three breakpoint opportunities to his advantage to clinch the opener with a 6-4 score line in half hour. 17-year-old produced a higher first serve share of 86 percent as compared to Uchida’s 74 percent and registered a fascinating 84 percent win
on it.
Uchida raised his level of game to that of Croat. He held on to his entire serves and produced a higher first serve share of 71 percent as opposed to Croat’s 64 percent. The Japanese slammed eleven winners and earned an impressive
69 percent win on his first serve share. However, he failed to capitalise on the seventeen unforced errors Pavic committed and dragged the set to a tie-breaker. The lower ranked prevailed in it to seal the equaliser with a 7-6(7) win in fifty minutes.
The unseeded player kept momentum rolling into the final set as he held opening serve by maintaining his consistency level in the game. He saved five out of six breakpoints faced and took full advantage of the sixteen unforced
errors the Croat committed. The Japanese then converted two out of six breakpoint chances to his advantage to bag the decider with a 10-8 score line in sixty-nine minutes. Regardless of producing a lower first serve share and fewer winners, he founded a break
of serve in the end to edge over Pavic.
Next up for the booming Japanese is sixteenth seeded Australian Luke Saville who fended off early resistance to win in a three set thriller against Belgian Joris de Loore.
Saville couldn’t find a break in the opening set and eventually lost in the tie-breaker. However, he broke the Belgian’s serve four times to seal the deal with a 6-7(1), 6-2, 6-2 score line in ninety-one minutes.
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