Lukas Rosol stuns Robin Haase in opening round – Mercedes Cup 2012
Czech star, Lukas Rosol, shocked the fifth seeded Robin Haase from Netherlands in straight sets at the Mercedes Cup 2012 on Tuesday. He penned down a 6-4, 7-5 victory against the world number 42 to secure a spot in the second round at this clay court tournament taking place in Stuttgart, Germany.
After upsetting Rafael Nadal in the second round at the Wimbledon Championships, Rosol continued to display his spectacular skills at the Tennis Club Weissenhof and upset the Dutch number one in their first meeting. After stealing the show in one hour and 18 minutes, the Czech not only edged in the FedEx ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Head 2 Head series by 1-0 against Haase but also inched closer towards his maiden ATP career title.
Rosol high spiritedly entered this ATP World Tour 250 series event and held his opening serve to level the scores at 1-1. He maintained consistency in his game and continued hammering powerful forehands to pocket his entire serves without facing any trouble. The Czech got the breakthrough in the seventh game, eventually registering the opener with a 6-4 success.
Ranked 103rd in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Rosol kept momentum sailing into the following set and held his opening serve in the second game with self-assurance. He brushed off all four breakpoints he encountered to keep his entire serves and cashed in the lone break chance in the 11th game to click the set with a 7-5 win.
Overall, Rosol fired 12 aces from his arsenal of skills and dominated throughout the match. He clobbered a better first serve share of 54 per cent as compared to his rival’s 49 per cent and required a single break of serve in each set to earn the spotlight.
Next up for Rosol is the local challenger, Bjorn Phau, who trashed Austrian qualifier, Martin Fischer, in straight sets to set up this meeting.
The seventh seed, Lukasz Kubot, also crashed out from this clay court event. He pulled out the equaliser with a bagel but lost his track again in the final set, eventually suffering a 2-6, 6-0, 3-6 loss at the hands of Germany’s Cedrik-Marcel Stebe.
The Polish star broke his opponent’s serve three times but spilled 10 double faults. Kubot also warded off only half of the eight breakpoints he faced and produced a poor first serve share of 55 per cent as opposed to the German’s 66 per cent.
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