Luka Gregorc cruises past Nicolas Massu into final qualifying round – Tiburon Challenger 2011
Chilean veteran, Nicolas Massu faced an early exit at the hands of the Slovakian, Luka Gregorc. Gregorc defeated the match favourite Massu in straight sets and cruised into the main round of Tiburon Challenger, hosted in California,
on October 9th. Gregorc surpassed the experience Chinese in straight sets victory in an hour and thirty-nine minutes with 6-4 and 6-2 final score.
Massu ranks 452, 32 spots below Gregorc but he is much more experienced and has won six titles during his career. This match was expected to go down the wire because both players were equally equipped with tennis skills. Massu
turned pro at the age of 18 in 1997 and since then he has been in search for a major title victory. This was his chance to make an impact and add another title to his tally. Crowd gathered up to watch an exciting battle between the two immensely talented tennis
players.
Match kicked-off in a surprising manner as Gregorc dominated the show. This put a lot of pressure on the Chilean who had no answers to the Slovak’s initial outbursts. He went out at the pitch with a crystal clear mind set of winning
the match. Massu came back into the match and improved the score line to a respectable 6-4 in the first set. The highlights from the first set include three aces and six break-points from Gregorc. He sealed the first set with 54% points winning rate.
Massu has been struggling to have any impact since a long time now and he has been facing early round exits from most of the tournaments. Second-set ended the miserable match for Massu who could only win two games in that set.
Gregorc was very strong with his footwork which left the veteran helpless on the other side of the court. Massu just saw the ball, sail past him from the other corner of the court but could do nothing about it. Fatigued Chinese was frustrated with his embarrassing
display yesterday and apologized to the viewers, back home, for not putting up a good show.
A delightful performance from the Slovakian upcoming star was applauded by the crowd and he promised to continue this sublime form in the upcoming matches as well. Gregorc now moves into final qualifying draw to fight for a spot
in the main draw of the event.
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