Kenny de Schepper journeys into the semi-finals – Mons Challenger 2012 CH
Wildcard entrant, Maxime Authom, received a straight sets shocker at the hands of the French contestant, Kenny de Schepper, in the quarter-finals of the Ethias Challenger 2012 held at the hard courts of Mons, Belgium. Schepper’s jolted down 7-5, 7-6(5) triumph in nearly one hour and 43 minutes.
Both tennis professional displayed a remarkable start in the opener and held their initial serve. Since the very start, Schepper proved to be a tough challenger and the score line squared down after every alternate game. He assertively entered in the set and progressively swayed into the right direction. His higher-ranked opponent battled hard to sustain his lead but his pace gradually died out. The Frenchman avenged his previous loss and relieved a breakthrough in the 10th game. He nudged forward to secure the last two games, stamping a 7-5 lead against the local challenger.
The Bordeaux native had remarkable score of seven aces but double faulted four times in the set. He had 63 percent initial serve precision with 20 of 24 first serve but a lower second delivery point score of six of 14 points. The Belgian participant had exceptionally low initial serve of 38 percent but bagged away all 11 first serve points but 10 of 18 second serve points.
The 25-year-old, Schepper, commenced a decent start in the following set and brought the score line to 1-0. He stamped his 4-2 lead in the sixth game but after that point, the right-hander local started to struggle. In response, he busted his opponent’s serve in the ninth game, levelling down the score line twice until the end. Schepper’s emerged to the surface as an unexpected winner with a 7-6(5), after a close tie-breaker round.
The 6ft 8in tall Schepper secured his victory by attacking his contender with eight aces and displaying a higher initial serve precision of 71 percent. Luckily, he managed to pocket away 20 of 24 first and just five of 10 second delivery points. His rival managed to attain just 43 percent with just 12 of 19 points.
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