Maxime Authom, Benjamin Balleret reach the final qualifying round – ORBELETTO Challenger 2011
Number five seed Maxime Authom earned a comfortable 6-3, 6-1 victory against Federico MacCari of Italy on Sunday to make it o the final of 2011 ORBETELLO Challenger Series qualification tournament in Orbetello, Italy.
The contestants traded several heavy blows in the first set as some highly competitive tennis was witnessed. Federico MacCari put up a great show to push the challenger to his limits but despite having a good start to the match,
he was unable to consolidate. Authom concentrated on his own game play and dashed his brutal forehand and backhand winners all over the court. Breaking the serve twice in the opener, he took a handsome lead and then capitalized on his advantage to take the
set score lead 1-0.
The Belgian continued to play his natural game freely in the second set as he came up with a special plan to disintegrate his opponent. With a rock solid defense, he managed to save crucial break against himself. The Italian was
clearly shorts of answers against a very fast paced game of Authom as she struggled to get to the ball on several occasions. His shot selection was also poor at times and he eventually paid the heavy price for his unforced errors. Breaking the serve three
times in the second set, he sealed an emphatic victory.
Authom was very strong effective in the serve return department converting nearly 50 per cent of the available points at receiving end. Using his blistering ground strokes, he created problems for his opponent. Contrastingly Ranked
372nd in the world, Authom fired five serves aces in the match that lasted for only 54 minutes on the red clay courts of Italy.
The Belgian has been in decent form since the year 2011 has started. His ranking of world number 372nd doesn’t justify his true talent and potential. Still in pursuit of his first ever ATP title, Authom has gradually
moved up the ATP world rankings since he turned professional. He will be eyeing a strong appearance in his final round clash against the top seeded Spaniard Gerard Granollers, who battled past local Nicola Barraco to reach that far.
Benjamin Balleret also booked a final round spot with a superb 4-1, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Lorenzi Giustino of Italy.
The Italian made a strong start to the match as he executed is game play to perfection. Breaking the serve twice, he took the opening set 6-4 to dent his opponent’ confidence levels.
Balleret raised the level of his game play in the next two sets and broke the serve at regular intervals to put the Italian under immense pressure. Firing a serve a ace, he made two match point available to him and then converted
the first one to seal victory.
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