Marco Chiudinelli upsets Rik de Voest in first qualifying round – Dubai Championships 2012
Swiss veteran, Marco Chiudinelli, registered an upset against the sixth seed South African contestant, Rik de Voest, in the opening qualifying round of the Dubai Duty Free Championships. On Saturday, both contestants locked horns for the fourth time in their
professional careers and the head-to-head scores title further in favour of the Swiss with a straight sets 6-4, 6-1.
The sixth seed South African had only won once against the Swiss; that was during the second round of RCA Championships, contested in Indianapolis in 2004. Other than that, Chiudinelli has won in Yokohama World Tennis Gaora Cup 2002 and PBZ Zagreb Indoors.
It was a sloppy start to the match with no one taking a risk of going out with all-round onslaught. They were happy to capitalise on their serves until the scores progressed 3-3. It was the Swiss veteran who registered the first breakthrough of the match
in the seventh game; taking the scores to 4-3 in his favour. He consolidated his position with a successful serve hold.
Voest had to break back as soon as possible in order to level the scores but his efforts went in vain. He lost the opening set and looked extremely frustrated on losing the serve game at the most critical stage of the set.
Trailing one set down, he started the second set with a broken heart and couldn’t hold her opening serve game. The Swiss doubled the lead with a successful hold. He was playing mind games and did not have to do much in order to dismantle his opponent’s confidence.
Voest was already extremely frustrated at his poor display and his distress further enhances when Chiudinelli broke his serve for the second time; taking the scores to 4-1. A successful hold for the Swiss tickled the scoreboard 5-1.
It was a ‘do or die’ situation for the sixth seed contestant and he failed to handle the pressure; lost serve game for the third time in the set and gifted the final qualifying round berth to his opponent. Chiudinelli will play the Arnau Brugues-Davi in
the hunt for a main round spot.
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