Karol Beck defeats Go Soeda at SA Tennis Open
Karol Beck of Slovakia fought out a long, tiring match with Go Soeda of Japan to progress to the third round of the SA Tennis Open at Johannesburg.
The Slovak defeated Soeda 3-6, 7-5, 6-0, coming back emphatically from a set down to get into the quarterfinals of the tournament.
The tournament, which has already seen most of its top seeds crash out, is a completely open field, which Beck will be eager to blaze through. He is certainly capable of blazing through opposition, as Soeda found out today.
The 28-year old Slovakian and the 26 year old Japanese man had never met before in their professional careers. They’re ranked fairly closely on the Pro world rankings, with Beck at 100 and Soeda at 117.
It was thus always expected to be a close encounter. The higher ranked player prevailed here though, as the score line shows. The match saw both players serve equally well, that is to say, equally atrociously.
The victor got in 53 per cent of his serves, while the Asian succeeded in landing 51 per cent of his correctly. The first set, however, was Soeda’s in this regard. He delivered 56 per cent of his first serves correctly, compared to Slovak’s 38 per cent.
This earned him 10 points on first serve, and his opponent had to settle for 9.
The Asian was also more dominant on the return, especially on the veteran’s second service. There, he filched off 67 percent of the points. This enabled him to gain 4 break points, 2 of which he converted to take the set with considerable ease.
The next two sets saw a complete turn about though. Beck raised his first serve percentage to 61 in the second, and got 80 percent of the points on serve. In the third set, he raised it even higher to 67 percent. His opponent’s game was inversely related
to his own though, as his serving percentage fell to 42 in the second.
An increase to 60 percent was not enough to save Soeda, as he lost out the match due to Beck’s excellent utilization of break chances. In the third set especially, he availed 3 out of 3 break points to win 6-0.
In conclusion, what seemed like a close encounter was turned into a veritable farce in the third set. 6-0 is a devastating score line to face anywhere, and Soeda bowed out with his head low. Beck is playing excellent tennis, and is definitely a competitor
for the trophy.
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