Max Raditschnigg, Benjamin Balleret make it to the main draw – Orbetello Challenger 2011
Austrian tennis-pro Max Raditschnigg made an impressive come back to defeat Marco Bortolotti of Italy 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 on Sunday and booked a place in the final qualifying round of the 2011 ATP Orbetello Challenger Series in Orbetello,
Italy.
Raditschnigg looked a bit down and out in the opening set as he produced a large number of unforced errors. His opponent, Marco Bortolotti made most of the opportunities and broke the serve twice to pocket the first set 6-3.
However, in the second set Max Raditschnigg regrouped himself organized his game to make a strong come back. The Austrian made the first serve to lead the game score by 3-1 and then outplayed the challenger with some top quality
tennis. Playing in the chip shots wonderfully every now and then, he surprised his opponent with his clever approach. With 86 percent break chances conversion, he established firm control over the match and made Bortolotti run for his money.
Raditschnigg has a great opportunity to go the distance at the ATP Challengers tournament, however, he must improve some areas of his game, if he wants to stand a chance against other top seeded players in the main draw.
Ranked 575th in the world, Raditschnigg is having a horrible time on the tour recently. Even though he had a great ending to the year 2006 when he reached his career high ATP ranking, the 28-year-old Austrian failed
to give similar performances afterwards and experienced several early round losses at the ATP arena. He will be hoping to maintain his current level of play to win his first ever ATP Challenger title on the clay courts of Orbetello.
At the red surface in Italy, Raditschnigg has certainly lifted his spirits as she came up with special performance. He was trailing the set score by 1-0 but bounced back brilliantly to earn himself a place in final round of the
tournament. In his second round match, Raditschnigg thrashed out local Roberto Marcora in straight sets 6-4, 7-5. Throughout the competition, he has shown admirable mental toughness and fighting abilities. With his first Challengers title of the season, the
Austrian will be looking to change the course of his career.
Meanwhile number eight seed Benjamin Balleret earned a comfortable 6-2, 6-3 victory over Christian Lindell of Sweden to make it to the main draw at the Challengers tournament.
Benjamin broke his opponent four times in a match that lasted for only one hour and twelve minutes. Lindell put up a good fight but fell short of expectations.
Balleret will take a lot of confidence from his victory and will expect to achieve similar results in her upcoming matches at the ATP tournament.
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