Marius Copil downs Florin Mergea in the first round – Brasov Challenger 2012
World number 217, Marius Copil of Romania, came back after losing the first set to beat his compatriot, Florin Mergea, 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 in the opening round of the Brasov Challenger in Romania on Wednesday. The hard fought contest
lasted for two hours and 16 minutes.
Start of match was stable, as none of the two players succeeded in breaking the other in the first seven games to take the score to 4-3 in favour of Mergea. The wild card entrant hit a blow to his seeded opponent in the eight and
capitalised on it to triumph 6-3.
Mergea won the set despite committing a total of four double faults. His good luck was that they did not come at crucial moments. The Romanian put in 58 percent of the first serves and converted 16 of the 19 of them into points.
The 27-year-old could not respond well to Copil’s first deliveries, as he lost 16 of the 19 points on them but compensated that by clinching four of the eight second ones.
In the second set, Mergea and Copil could hold their serve in the first five games to take the score to 3-2 in the latter’s favour. Mergea stung a break in the sixth to go up 4-2 but he lost the following two, taking the proceedings
to 4-4. Rest of the set went with serves, evening it out at 6-6 and taking it to a tie-breaker. Copil raced to a 4-1 lead but his countryman came back to equalise the score at 4-4. However, the higher ranked Romanian got control once again to win three of
the next four points and win 7-6(5).
Copil managed to win the set even after committing five double faults. The Romanian banged in four aces and grabbed 21 of the 24 points on the first serves.
The 6ft 4in tall, Copil, carried the winning momentum into the decider, as he struck in the very first game and consolidated on it to grab a 2-0 lead. The Romanian maintained his lead till the end to seal it 6-4.
Copil did not make any double fault this time, winning nine of the 11 first and 11 of the 12 second serve points in the final set. The Romanian converted one of the 10 break opportunities he received.
In the second round, Copil is slated to meet Chile’s Jorge Aguilar, who beat Matteo Fago in the opener.
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