Nicholas Monroe defeats Kittipong Wachiramanowong to reach the quarters – Wuhai Challenger 2011
Seeded eighth in the tournament, Nicholas Monroe of the United States stood victorious against Thailand’s qualifier, Kittipong Wachiramanowong, in the second round of Wuhai Challenger on Thursday afternoon.
The eighth seeded American took two hours and seventeen minutes of play to settle the three-set thriller at 7-6(4), 6-7(6), 6-1, to make it into the quarter-finals of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour event being played at Wuhai, China.
Both contestants strained extremely hard to take the better of one another but Monroe proved the worthy contest to come out as the winner in the end. The American contestant took the opening set in a tie breaker round after a tough time with the Thai opponent, who replicated the similar feat in the next set to bring the contest back on even terms. However, Wachiramanowong failed to sustain momentum in the final set and was absolutely blown away by Monroe to end his voyage at the Wuhai Challenger in the second round.
No serve breaks were registered by any contestant in the opening set, which dead locked the scores at 6-6 to enforce a tie breaker round. Wachiramanowong fired eight thudding aces to clinch 23 first serve points, while his opponent followed with 20 points in the opening set. The unseeded Thai competitor failed to carry on his impetus in the tie breaker round and collected just four points to submit the opening set to Monroe at 6-7(4).
After a trade of serve breaks from both men, the second set again went into a tie breaker round once the scores got to 6-6. Wachiramanowong stood focused this time round and bagged the second set at 7-6(6) to level the contest at one-all. However, the American proved too good to contain in the final set and faced no real difficulty in wrapping up the match at 6-1 after breaking his opponent’s serve twice in the set.
Monroe’s victory sends him to the round of eight of the tournament, where he will take on the winner of the match between the second seeded Spaniard, Guillermo Olaso, and his fellow compatriot, Inigo Cervantes-Huegun.
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