Martin Fischer outmuscles Sandro Ehrat in the first round – Credit Agricole Suisse Open 2012
World number 245, Martin Fischer of Austria, faced limited resistance in beating the 427th ranked Swiss contestant, Sandro Ehrat, in straight sets 6-2, 6-4 in the opening match at the Credit Agricole Suisse Open in Gstaad,
Switzerland on Monday.
Interestingly, this was an encounter between a qualifier and a wild card entrant, as Fisher had qualified for the event and Ehrat, who was a local player, received a wild card to enter the main draw. The one sided match lasted
for one hour and 15 minutes.
Fischer did not allow his Swiss opponent to settle down in the match, snatching a break in the very first game and winning his following serve to build a 2-0 advantage. The Austrian player hit another blow to Ehrat in the seventh
and capitalised on the double break to win 6-2.
The 5ft 11in tall neither hit an ace nor made any double fault in the opening set. The Wolfurt, Austria resident had an extremely low first serve percentage of 43 and bagged eight of the nine points on them. The Austrian contender,
though, did quite well on the replies to his rival’s deliveries, securing four of the eight first and six of the 11 second return points. The right-hander did not provide any break opportunity to Ehrat and utilised two of the three he created.
Just like the first set, Fischer hit a blow to the Swiss player in the opening game to go up 1-0 but this time Ehrat broke back immediately to even out the score at 1-1. The Austrian struck again in the third and consolidated on
it on this occasion to attain a 3-1 lead. However, the Swiss contestant grabbed two games in a row to come on equal terms once again. Fischer clinched decisive breakthrough in the ninth, making the most of it to triumph 6-4.
The Austrian’s first serve percentage was even lower this time, as he could keep it at just 39. However, he compensated that by winning 10 of the 16 second reply points in the second set.
Fischer is slated to take on the top seed, Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, in the second round.
Tags: