Martin Klizan and Andreas Beck advance to the quarterfinal of 2011 Rai Open
Slovakian tennis-pro Martin Klizan made an impressive come back to defeat Augustin Gensse 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 on Thursday and booked a place in the last eight at the 2011 Rai Open in Rome.
Klizan looked a bit down and out in the first set as he gave away a number of unforced errors. His opponent made the most of the opportunities and broke Klizan’s serve twice to pocket the first set 6-3.
However, in the following set Klizan organized his game and made a strong come back. He made the first serve to lead the game score by 2-0 and then outclassed his opponent with some high quality tennis. He played in the chip shots
wonderfully every now and then to surprise the challenger. With 70 percent break points conversion he established firm control over the contest. Kilzan has a great chance to go the distance at the tournament however he must improve his game even more if he
wants to stand a chance against other top seeded players. In the quarterfinal, Klizan will face number one seed Andreas Haider-Maurer. Haider-Maurer defeated Ivo Klec 7-5, 6-3.
Ranked 171 in the world, Klizan is having a disappointing run on the tour. Although he had an ideal ending to the year 2010 when he reached his career high ATP ranking of world number 154, the Slovakian failed to produce similar
performances since then and experienced first round defeats at several tournaments. Just over a week ago Klizan was upset by world number 320 Sergio Gutierrez-Ferol in straight sets in the first round of 2011 Casablanca Open.
At the red clay courts tournament in Rome, Klizan lifted his spirits and came up with special performance. The 21-year-old was trailing the set score by 0-1 but bounced back to claim a quarterfinal spot at the tournament. In his
previous match, Klizan ousted seventh seeded Simon Greul of Germany 6-4, 6-2, 6-0. He has showed admirable mental toughness throughout the tournament. He will be hoping to change the course of his career with his first Challengers title of the season.
Meanwhile number four seed Andreas Beck secured a thumping 6-2, 6-1 victory over Thomas Fabbiano to make it through to the quarterfinal at the Challengers tournament.
The German broke the serve five times in a match that lasted for only 1 hour and eighteen minutes. Fabbiano made some good moves but fell short of expectations. Beck’s quarterfinal opponent will be Julian Reister who defeated qualifier
Pavol Cervenak 6-3, 6-4.
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