Mathieu Rodrigues upsets Mischa Zverev to move into main draw – Moselle Open 2011
Another upset in the qualifying draws of the Moselle Open, with the top seeded German, Mischa Zverev, crashed out of the tournament at the hands of the sixth seed French, Mathieu Rodrigues, in the final round qualifiers on Monday
night.
Being played on the indoor hard courts of the Arènes de Metz, in Metz, France, with 25-year-old local contestant coming up to the expectations of the home crowd. Rodrigues wrapped up victory at 6-3, 7-5, taking one hour and twenty
nine minutes to qualify for the main draws of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 tournament.
The contest appeared pretty one-sided, with Rodrigues dominating for the most of the time with his accurate hitting. He raced through the opening set with the ease but faced some serious resistance from the top seeded German.
Despite of a below par serve precision of merely 49 per cent, the sixth seeded French nailed six out of 15 break opportunities to dispose of the top seed Zverev from the competition. The German reeled off 37 out of 59 first serve
points in the matchup, with Rodrigues lagging far behind with just 18 points, yet finishing on the losing side in the end.
The action took off right from the opening set, with Rodrigues striking his first break point of the day in the third game to lead 2-1, and carried on with his aggression to nail his second consecutive serve break to extend his
lead to 4-1. Zverev retaliated with a serve break in the eighth game but it came all too late. The French hammered his third break point conversion of the set in the next game to close out the opener at 6-3, getting one up in the contest.
Rodrigues carried on his winning impetus in the following set as well, breaking the top seed German in the fourth game to reach 4-1 very quickly. Zverev broke the French serve on two more occasions in the second set but Rodrigues
was too good to handle for the German. The sixth seeded French registered a total of three break point conversions in the second set to race away to victory in a convincing manner at 7-5.
Rodrigues will play his opening round match in the main draws of the Moselle Open against the Kazakh opponent, Mikhail Kukushkin, on Tuesday.
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