Martin Fischer stuns Eduardo Schwank in the final round of the qualifying draw – Mercedes Cup 2012
Seeded seventh in the draw, Martin Fischer of Austria gave a brilliant performance to beat the second seed, Eduardo Schwank, in straight sets 7-5, 6-1 in the final qualifier at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart, Germany on Monday. It took the Austrian an hour
and 17 minutes to throw his higher ranked opponent out of the event.
Fischer and Schwank started by winning their serves in the opening two games to square off the score at 1-1. The Austrian delivered a blow to his rival in the third and consolidated on it to get into a 3-1. However, Schwank did not take much time to draw
level at 3-3. The next four games went with serve to take the score to 5-5. Fischer grabbed another breakthrough in the 11th and this time he made the most of it to win 7-5.
The Austrian did not serve very well, as he hit two aces but also committed three double faults. The 25-year-old had an average first serve percentage of 56 and won 15 of the 23 points on them. He won most of the points on the second returns, capturing seven
of the 12. The Austrian could not evade the only break threat he came across but succeeded in utilising two of the five of his own opportunities.
In the second set, Fischer struck in the very first game and held his following serve to gain a 2-0 lead. Schwank held his serve in the third one to reduce the trail to 1-2 but it was all Fischer show after that, as he grabbed four back to back games, hitting
a couple of blows and capitalising on the double advantage to win 6-1.
In a similar fashion to the opener, Fischer did not serve quite well, as he hit a couple of double faults and managed to maintain a first serve percentage of just 22 percent. Though, the Austrian retuned remarkably well once again, grabbing eight of the
14 first and five of the nine second reply points.
Fischer will meet Bjorn Phau of Germany in the first round of the main draw. Phau, who is ranked 81st in the world, received a direct entry.
Tags: