Michael Llodra hammers Adrian Ungur in the first round – Orleans Challenger 2011
French, Michael Llodra, locked horns with the Romanian, Adrian Ungur, in the first round of the Orleans tournament, contested in France, on Wednesday October 19th. It was the first encounter between the two and en easy
draw for the World No.33 on paper as well as pitch. He thumped the Romanian in the straight sets 6-2 and 6-3 in just over an hour an nine minutes.
World No.113 was in good form considering his seven victories in last nine encounters whilst his opponent was apparently going through dismal run having lost six of his last nine encounters so one could easily say that there was
a possibility of another upset. But Ungur had featured in the Challenger tournaments while his opponent had featured in Shanghai Masters and China Open where he faced the likes of Fernando Verdasco and Milos Raonic; so upset was not an easy task at all and
that’s exactly reflected in the score line.
Local star entered the match as the second seed and took full advantage of his experience and crowd support by knocking the Romanian in straight sets and passing a strong message to his potential contenders about his abilities
and temperament.
Five aces, two break points and some jaw-dropping shot making ability were the essence of the first set display. He registered an inspiring 93% first serve success rate and was equally good to secure some crucial points on his
opponent’s serve that put a lot of stress on his counterpart who was already buried under the pressure of number of factors favouring Llodra.
The Romanian couldn’t created a single opportunity of winning a break point and could only register a minute success rate of first (53%) and second (46%) serve. He could only win just two games while his opponent on the other hand
had already pocketed six; clearly he was down and out of the match.
Veteran was totally in control of the game and was providing no opportunity to the Romanian to have any sort of impact on the match. Second set also featured five delightful aces from the second seeded wildcard entrant. He was
on top of his game, utilizing all his experience to thump his opponent in all parts of the court.
French registered a massive 89% first serve success rate and broke his opponent’s serve once to wrap up the set in grand style. Ungur had his moments when he won three games in the set but that were just a mere consolation for
him. One man show from the veteran enchanted the crowd.
Michael Llodra is the hot favourite to win the tournament seeing the first round early exit of the top seed at the hands of Arnaud Clement. Llodra will meet the Spanish Arnau Brugues-Davi in the second round.
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