Nicolas Mahut pounces over Martin Klizan to reach round three – French Open 2012
Local contender, Nicolas Mahut, made an epic comeback from a set down to outclass the Slovakian star, Martin Klizan, in a four-set thriller at the Roland Garros 2012 on Wednesday. He summed up a 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(5), 6-3 victory against
the world number 70 to secure a place in the third round at this second of the four Grand Slam events held in Paris, France.
The Frenchman displayed dismal performance in the opening set but later found his rhythm and pulled out the victory.
The left-handed Slovak made a strong start at the court number two and drew the first blood in the third game to go 3-1 up. He then held his remaining serves with poise and pocketed the opener with a 6-4 win.
Mahut re-focused in the follow-up set and swiftly swiped in his entire serves without facing any real challenge. He got the breakthrough in the last game by cashing in lone break chance and clicked the set by winning six games
to four.
Ranked 89th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Mahut lost his path towards the third set and gifted away his serve in the seventh game to trail at 3-5. However, he not only recovered in the 10th
game and dominated in the tie-breaker to clinch the set with a 7-6(5) score line.
After Klizan held his second serve in the fourth set, the French unleashed his skills and went on a four-game rampage. In spite of losing his serve in the eighth game, he broke the Slovak’s serve again and bagged the set with a
6-3 win.
Next challenge for Mahut is the former world number one, Roger Federer, who triumphed over Romania’s Adrian Ungur in four sets to set up this epic clash.
The world number nine, Juan Martin Del Potro, will accompany Mahut in the round of 32. He battled past the local contestant, Edouard Roger-Vasselin in three hours and 39 minutes on Court number two.
"It was a very tight match," said Roger-Vasselin in a court-side interview after the match. "Del Potro was slightly stronger than I was today. I was within inches of a big achievement. If I had won the second set. Maybe I put
a bit of pressure on myself, I don't know. I played my match. I'm rather happy with my match. I did what I could."
Del Potro reflected after the match, "I knew from the outset that I could win this match, I could break him. I knew that I could change the situation at any moment."
Next in line for the Argentine is the Croatian star, Marin Cilic.
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