Luka Gregorc downs Daniel Cox in the qualifiers – SAP Open 2012
Slovenian contender, Luka Gregorc, rallied past the British rising star, Daniel Cox, in a three set thriller at the SAP Open 2012 on Monday night. He jolted down a 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-6(5) victory over the world number 394 to reach the final round of the qualifying
competition at this ATP World Tour 250 series event held in San Jose, United States.
The Slovenian veteran overcame the 21-year-old in troublesome three sets at the HP Pavilion in their second meeting. Both stars previously met at the Great Britain F17 and after earning this success, Gregorc not only maintained his winning record against
Cox but also advanced into the final round of the qualifiers.
The 27-year-old made quick in-roads as he pulled out the opener with a single break of serve. He was never threatened with any breakpoint and got the breakthrough in the fourth game to clinch the set with a 6-3 score line.
Cox carried his losing ways in the following set and suffered the first blow in the opening game. However, he snatched the break back in the sixth game and after exchanging a serve break, the British took the set to a tie-breaker. The youngster dominated
in it and eventually equalise the set scores after registering a 7-6(4) success.
The match could go either ways at this point but the contestant who got the limelight was Gregorc. He was trailing at 1-2 after losing his serve early in the match. However, the Slovene quickly counterattacked in the very next game and dragged the set to
a tie-breaker. He edged past the British in it and ultimately clinched the decider with a 7-6(5) score line.
Overall, the Slovene spilled an equal number of double faults and manipulated a slightly lower first serve share of 63 percent as compared to Cox’s 65 percent. However, he impressively clicked 46 out of 68 points on it and finished the match with 115 points.
The Slovene will next confront the Bulgarian challenger, Dimitar Kutrovsky, who earned a retirement victory over the local third seed, Michael Yani. The Bulgarian was one set up but after Yani held his opening serve in the second set, he suffered an injury,
eventually retiring from the tournament.
Eighth seed, Tim Smyczek, will join Gregorc in the final round of this qualifying competition. He destroyed the Australian contestant, Carsten Ball, with a breadstick to book this spot earlier that day. The American held his entire serves with poise and
cashed in half of the 10 break opportunities to his advantage, ultimately sealing the deal with a 6-1, 6-2 success.
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