Nicolas Mahut drowns Joshua Milton in the second round – Challenger of Granby 2011 CH
World number 96, Nicolas Mahut of France cruised his way through the second round of the National Bank’s Challenger of Granby, after defeating Joshua Milton of the Great Briton on Thursday.
Being part of the hard-court swing, the competition was staged at Granby, Canada, with the third seed Frenchman registering a convincing straight sets victory to book a place in the quarter-finals. Mahut finished off the matchup
in one hour and eight minutes, settling the final scores at 6-4, 6-2, to enter the round of eight at the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour tournament.
The contest was pretty one-sided and it looked very evident right from the beginning that the Briton couldn’t withstand the fury of Mahut. Seeded at number three in the tournament, Mahut displayed some real classy game play to
bag a comprehensive victory to dispense off Milton in straight sets, joining the other seeded players in the quarter-final draws.
The French remained cautious at the beginning of the opening set but gradually gathered up his aggression in the later parts of the game to come out as the winner in the end. Mahut’s 63 per cent precise serve earned him 12 first
serve points in the opener, with his competitor lagging far behind with just six points.
Milton hung in the opening set for a while but his silly mistakes wore him out later in the game. His first serve reached merely 45 per cent while his weak baseline defence gave a number of opportunities to Mahut to crack in plenty
of winners down the line. The Briton however registered two serve breaks in the opening set to show his aggressive intent but he failed to sustain his momentum and dropped his serve on three different occasions before the French took the first set. Mahut converted
three of his five break opportunities to seal the opener at 6-4 and then carried on with his power game in the following set as well.
The British serve exacerbated further in the second set, with Milton delivering just 33 per of it on target and letting two break points to his opponent to assist him to victory. Mahut bagged 12 out of 15 first serve points in
the set to seal victory at 6-2, booking a spot in the quarter-finals of the Challenger of Granby. He will face the seventh seed fellow Frenchman, Arnaud Clement, in the quarter-final encounter on Friday for a place in the semis.
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