Lukas Lacko strains past Konstantin Kravchuk in round one – Gerry Weber Open 2012
Slovak tennis professional, Lukas Lacko, dumped the 27-year-old Russian, Konstantin Kravchuk, in the opening round of the Gerry Weber Open in Halle on Tuesday. It was the third head-to-head triumph for the 24-year-old Slovak who
is yet to lose from the 179th ranked Russian. He bounced back a set down to register the scores of 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.
Russian qualifier played extremely well in the first part of the match. There were no early breakthroughs being shared but a sudden outbreak towards the end of the set witnessed two breakpoints for the Russian. It was an aggressive
start from Kravchuk who has always struggled against the Slovak at all platforms.
However, the reply from the 58th ranked Slovak was emphatic. He broke serve in the opening game of the second set and took a lead of 2-0 upfront. He fired in the first serves with utmost accuracy and converted the points
in his favour. There was an opportunity for the Russian to break serve in the fourth game and push the scores back on level terms but he squandered that opportunity.
Moreover, the curtains were closed on the Russian in the seventh game of the second set when he lost another breakpoint and went down to a trail of 2-5. He needed to break the following serve game of his competitor but he failed
to do so and lost the second set.
Final set witnessed a resounding beginning with the Slovak tennis ace cruising away to a lead of 4-0 at the start. Two early breakpoints and a couple of comfortable serve holds did the job for the Slovak. A small cameo from the
Russian witnessed a critical breakthrough for him in the sixth game.
Kravchuk brought down the trail to 3-4 but unfortunately lost the final serve game courtesy a lucky net point for his rival. It was a heart breaking ending to a promising start for the Russian but he was satisfied from his performance.
No one expected that he will go this far in the match.
Lukas Lacko has the toughest draw for the second round. He is up against the Spanish number one and the seven-time French Open champion, Rafael Nadal. Nadal is the top seed player of the tournament. He is on a terrific winning
streak of 13-0 entering this tournament. He will be eyeing a thumping start to his grass court season so he will not hold anything back against the Slovak.
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