Marius Copil, Cedrik-Marcel Stebe win second round qualies – If Stockholm Open 2011
A surprising outcome was witnessed in the second round of the qualifying draw of the If Stockholm Open, with the second seeded competitor, Matthias Bachinger of Germany, crashing out of the tournament at the hands of the unseeded Romanian, Marius Copil, on Sunday.
The contest was played on the indoor hard courts of Stockholm, Sweden, with the 21-year-old Romanian registering a straight sets victory over the 86th ranked Bachinger, 7-6(4), 6-3. Copil took one hour and twenty seven minutes of play to clear the second round and moved one step closer to get a berth in the main rounds of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 event.
The contest looked fairly posed in the hard-fought opening set but Romanian dominance was clearly visible in the second set of the matchup. Copil took the opener after a stiff contest in the tie breaker round and then raced through the second set with ease to register his surprise victory over the second seeded German.
The unseeded Romanian delivered 61 per cent of his serve on target, firing seven aces and securing 37 out of 49 first serve points in the matchup to come out as the winner. Bachinger followed him with 25 out of 32 points on his first serve and registered just one break point in the entire game in reply to Copil’s two crushing ones.
Copil moved into the qualifying competition after outplaying Bachinger and will take on the other fifth seeded German, Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, for a place in the main draw of the If Stockholm Open. Stebe registered a comprehensive victory over the unseeded Czech opponent, Jan Hernych, in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4, in the second round qualifiers.
The 21-year-old German absolutely outclassed Hernych in the competition, beating the Czech in every segment of the game to drive him out of the tournament. Stebe clinched 27 out of 32 first serve points in the matchup and converted three out of his four break opportunities in the contest to register a convincing victory with ease.
Hernych utterly failed to register a single serve break in the entire matchup, frittering away two vital break chances in the game to remain on the losing side. His game was completely overrun by the sheer brilliance of Stebe, who made the most of his opportunities in the contest. A total of 98 points were played in the matchup and Stebe clinched 60 out of them, with the Czech opponent lagging far behind at merely 38 points.
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