Nicolas Mahut dumps Sergei Bubka in the first round – Orleans Challenger 2011
Sergei Bubka of Ukraine was tied with the third seeded French, Nicolas Mahut, in the first round of the Orleans Challenger Tournament, contested in France, on Tuesday October 18th. It was the first encounter between
the two contestants and relatively a closer one than the expectation of most people. A well played match that lasted for an hour and twenty-eight minutes ended up in the triumph for the match favourite, World No.82, Nicolas Mahut. The straight set victory
with a cumulative score of 7-5 and 6-4 was sufficient to take him through to the next round of the tournament.
Ukrainian was really disappointing in his recent past having lost five of his last nine matches whilst his opponent was relatively good who lost just three of his last nine. Current form, superior ranking and bulk of experience
were pointing towards Mahut’s victory and with the local crowd at the arena; the task became even easier.
World No.154 was impressive with his first serves and had 84% success rate in that but failed to create any impact with his second serves and lost 54% points on that. His opponent was consistent with his serves and attained 71%
and 67% first and second serve success rate which proved to be beneficial at the depth when he secured crucial points of the last game on his serve.
Just one break point of the set went to the Third seeded French who clinched the second last game with that and topped it up with his own serve to round off the set in his favour and put pressure of Bubka. Trailing with one set
down and all the factors against him, Bubka really needed to back him and fight it out in the second set to make the match interesting.
71 points were played in total and Mahut secured 37 of them, stealing the first set with a difference of just 3 points. The Ukrainian was impressive with his delicate power play that smashed four aces but his opponent was equally
good with his serves that also smashed two aces across the court. The stage was set for a cruising second set victory for the French but it was not that easy.
Impressive power play was continued by the 24-year-old Bubka who smashed four more aces in the second set but that were not good enough to dismantle the temperament of an experience 29-year-old French. He continued his dominance
with an impressive first and second serve display and registered a success rate of 75% and 67% respectively.
The only successful break point came at the crucial stage when Bubka looked set to push the match into the third set but Mahut halted his run and broke his serve to take the lead and then stole the set on his serve and ended the
match in grand style.
Third seeded, Nicolas Mahut meets the German, Nicolas Brown, in the second round of the tournament.
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