Matwe Middelkoop surprises Teymuraz Gabashvili in the second round – The Hague Open 2011 CH
Another major upset at The Hague Open on Thursday, when the local hope, Matwe Middelkoop, stunned the sixth seeded Russian, Teymuraz Gabashvili, in the second round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour
event.
The contest was staged at Scheveningen, Netherlands, with the 27-year-old Dutch competitor winning the three-set thriller at 1-6, 6-1, 6-2, in one hour and thirty two minutes of play to qualify for the quarter-finals of the tournament.
26-year-old Gabashvili took off the opening set with great command and got hold of the game in no time. He broke Middelkoop in the very first game to get the early advantage and then orchestrated most of the rallies in the set.
Gabashvili secured 10 of his 14 first serve points while delivering 67 per cent of serve on target in the first set. The Russian converted his second break chance in the sixth game and then easily served out of the opener at 6-1 to get the upper hand in the
contest.
A dramatic turnaround was witnessed in the next set, with Gabashvili going through a drastic slump and Middelkoop fully capitalising upon his mistakes. The Russian suddenly lost his game in the second set and began to spray errant
strokes all over the court to award easy points to his opponent, who stung two straight serve breaks to lead 5-0. Gabashvili tried to break the shackles by registering his third break point of the day but it was a bit too late to react, as Middelkoop sealed
the second set at 6-1 to level the contest at one-all.
Gabashvili continued to struggle in the final set as well and again dropped serve in the very first game to trail 0-2. He had a break opportunity in the fourth game, which he rightfully converted to bring the scores on levelled
terms once again but Middelkoop carried on with his demolition job. The Dutch launched a series of attacks on Gabashvili and nailed two successive serve breaks to rocket away to victory at 6-2 in the 93rd minute of play to book a berth in the quarter-finals
of the tournament.
Middelkoop reeled off 69 out of 127 total points being played in the entire matchup and registered six serve breaks en route to victory. He will take on Augustin Gensse of France in the next encounter for a place in the semi-finals
of the Hague Open. Gensse upset his fellow compatriot, Marc Gicquel, in the second round 1-6, 7-5, 6-2.
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