Lukas Rosol stuns Viktor Troicki in the first round – German Tennis Championships 2012
Czech Republic’s Lukas Rosol fought back after losing the opener to outlast the eighth seed, Viktor Troicki of Serbia, in three sets 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 in the opening round at the Bet-at-home German Tennis Championships in Hamburg on
Tuesday.
Rosol got the attention of the tennis world after surprising the then world number two, Rafael Nadal, in the second round of the Wimbledon Championships last month. Though, he could not continue to perform at the same level, losing
in straight sets at the hands of German contestant, Philipp Kohlschreiber, in the next match at the All England Club.
Coming back to the latest match, Rosol could not make a good beginning, as he lost his opening serve and also the next game to go down 0-2. The Czech player, however, broke back in the fourth one to level the score at 2-2. Troicki
claimed breakthrough again in the ninth but failed to serve out in the next game, levelling the score at 5-5. The Serbian hit the final blow of the opening set in the 11th game and made the most of it to win 7-5.
Troicki and Rosol made a stable start in the second set, holding their first five serves to take the score to 3-2 in the favour of the latter. The Czech contender snatched a break in the sixth and consolidated on it to gain a 5-2
lead. Rosol maintained his lead till the end, serving it out at 5-3.
In the third set, Rosol and Troicki won their opening serves to square off the score at 1-1. The Czech contender hit a blow to his Serbian rival in the third and capitalised on it to triumph 6-4.
Rosol needed one hour and 57 minutes to upset Troicki in a closely contested match.
The 26-year-old bombarded six aces and 65 percent of the first deliveries in the match. The 6ft 5in tall captured 49 of the 67 first serves and 29 of the 45 second return points.
The Czech player will take on either Spain’s Pablo Andujar or his countryman, Albert Ramos, in the round of 16.
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