Kenny de Schepper overtakes Gerard Granollers-Pujol in 2nd round – Guzzini Challenger 2011
Fourth seed French Kenny de Schepper remained standing after a two set encounter on Thursday with Spaniard Gerard Granollers-Pujol at the Guzzini Challenger 2011 in Recanati, Italy. Granollers looked in control in the first set
and gave his opponent a tough time but all trappings of a comeback vanished as soon as the second set began. de Schepper easily took out the Frenchman winning 7-5, 6-1. He now moves on to the quarter finals of the tournament, a regular and prominent feature
of the ATP Challenger circuit.
The 24 year old fourth seed de Schepper had opened his outing in Recanati by playing an outstanding win against the Netherland’s Matwe Middelkoop, a qualifier in the tournament. Granollers too had secured an effortless 6-2, 6-1
win in his opening match encounter against Italian qualifier Andrea Agazzi. He however failed to replicate that performance in his fourth round match today.
The first set opened on de Schepper’s serve saw Granollers trying his level best to stage an upset against his opponent. The set was closely fought throughout with de Schepper moving forward by securing a precisely timed serve
break in the last game of the set. de Schepper served exceedingly well and amassed an astounding 6 aces to cripple his opponent. He managed to serve at 74% and won 19 of the 23 first serve points from them. Granollers could not even once set up a breakpoint
opportunity against his opponent. De Schepper closed the set 7-5, gaining a well deserved win.
The second set too was opened by Schepper and this set posed absolutely no difficulty for the upbeat French player. He fired a destructive volley of another 4 aces and broke de Schepper’s serve twice, in the 4th and
6th games of the second set, leaving his opponent trailing far behind. Granollers showed almost no resolve in this set and again failed to set up even a single serve break situation. The set ended 6-1 with 28 points in de Schepper’s account against
Granollers’ 14.
De Schepper, now secure amongst the top 8 of the tournament, will face the winner of the match between Jan Minar and Flavio Cipolla in his semi final encounter.
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