Karol Beck edges past Jurgen Zopp in the opening round of the Status Athens Open
Fifth seed Karol Beck of Slovakia stood victorious against Estonian, Jurgen Zopp in the first round of the Status Athens Open at Athens, Greece on Monday. He toiled for two hours and thirty one minutes to overcome Zopp in a three-set
thriller 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-4, to book a berth in the second round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour event.
The back-and-forth affair exhibited an enthralling game of tennis, with the 29-year-old Slovakian veteran coming out as the winner in the end. Beck proved his brilliant hard-court tennis skills yet another time to dispense Zopp
out of the tournament. His performance certainly lacked something to be desired but he put up a nice show to entertain the crowd at Athens.
The 23-year-old Estonian hung in the contest for quite some time, bagging the second set to level the matchup at 1-1 but dropped the next to lose the match. His first serve percentage was 64, better than Beck’s 59 per cent but
he spilled out plenty of unforced errors which wore him out in the competition. Eight double faults were recorded on Zopp’s part while seven were conceded by the Slovak in the game.
Both contestants took time to get their eye in the match, slopping a number of unforced errors and double faults. a series of six serve breaks was seen right from the very first game on the first set and it took more than forty
minutes for the score to reach 4-3, with the Slovak leading. Beck received seven opportunities to crack serve breaks and converted four of them, while the Estonian availed all the three break chances he got. The opener fell in Beck’s bag at 6-3, giving him
1-0 lead in the contest.
More intense tennis was observed in the second set, as Zopp strained hard to bounce back in the game. The two men had almost identical statistics in the second set and kept the scoreboard ticking on equal terms. A decisive tie
breaker was enforced as the scores reached 6-6, with Zopp clinching a crucial serve break. The Estonian kept his momentum in the decider and reeled off five straight points to close the second set at 7-6(3) and cut Beck’s lead to 1-1.
Zopp also gave a tough time to the Slovak in the final set of the contest with his 73 per cent precise first serve. However, Beck manoeuvred his way through the third set to conclude victory at 6-4 and book a date with Evgeny Korolev
of Kazakhstan in the second round. Korolev won his match against Ilia Bozoljac 6-2, 7-6(5), in the opening round at Athens.
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