Nicolas Mahut overpowers Arnaud Clement in 2nd round – Open De Rennes 2011 CH
French world number 82 Nicolas Mahut overpowered his fellow compatriot Arnaud Clement in the second round of the Open De Rennes 2011, an event on the ATP Challenger Tour. The two players battled it out on indoor hard courts in
Rennes, France. After a few hours, emerging victorious was the higher ranked Frenchman, who scored in straight sets of 6-3, 6-3 against his lower ranked adversary Clement.
The players were familiar with each other’s style and performance as they had previously contested against each other nine times. Leading in the head-to-head was Mahut with a magnanimous lead of eight is to one.
Opening the first round of the match was Mahut, who successfully managed to hold his serve in the first game and following behind him was his adversary, Clement, who too held his serve to place himself at 1-1 on the scoreboard.
The two players matched a blow for a blow and the score was tied at 2-2 by the end of the fourth game as they had expertly held their serves.
In the fifth game Mahut held serve and then capitalized on a crucial break to take the lead of 4-2 in the sixth game. During the last three games the players again won on alternate serves and in doing so; Mahut was able to gain
one up in the match as he had won the opening set with a 6-3 victory.
The second round of the match was initiated by Clement and the toe-to-toe run between the two carried well into the second set. The players held serve in the first two games to land themselves at 1-1 on the scoreboard. In the next
two games the challengers again won a service game each and the score had progressed to 2-2 by the end of the fourth game.
Clement was doing just fine but eventually came under pressure and double faulted during his second serve in the fifth game. As Clement double faulted, he endorsed a pivotal breakpoint to his adversary, who held his serve in the
sixth game and had taken the lead in the score at 4-2.
During the seventh and the eighth games the players again clinched a game on alternate serves and now Mahut was only a game away from sealing his victory in the second round of the match. As he held serve, for the match point,
he smashed a beautiful crosscourt shot and bagged the set and the match.
Mahut was not only able to further advance his lead in the head-to-head but also managed to secure a place in the quarterfinal of the event.
Tags: