Nicolas Mahut surprises Florian Mayer in the second round – Open Sud de France 2012
A surprising result was witnessed in the second round clash of the Open Sud de France on Thursday; the sixth seed hot favourite German, Florian Mayer, crashed out of the matchup against the world number 78, Nicolas Mahut. The unseeded
local veteran provided sheer entertainment to his home crowd by outshining the world number 21, Mayer, in straight sets, 7-6(3), 6-3, to book a spot in the quarter-final round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250-level tournament.
The contest was played on the indoor hard courts of the Arena Montpellier, in Montpellier, France, with 30-year-old Mahut registering his fourth victory of the running ATP season. The French veteran kept his successful run against
Mayer, beating him for the second time in a row to lead 2-1 in the all-time head-to-head series. Their last meeting was held in 2008, when Mahut dumped the German in straight sets, 7-6(6), 6-3, in the opening round of the Miami Masters and displayed the similar
sort of belligerence on Thursday to repeat the feat once again in front of his home crowd.
Mayer won his first ATP championship title last year in Bucharest, Romania but has registered just one victory in the 2012 circuit so far. The German took off his new tennis season at the Brisbane International tournament and was
ousted in the very first round by the 73rd ranked Uzbek competitor, Denis Istomin, after retiring from the event due to injury. He made his comeback at the Open Sud de France and won his opening round match against Gilles Muller to face Mahut. The
unseeded French halted his winning momentum in the second round and nailed a convincing victory over him to reach the quarter-final round of the tournament.
Mahut converted three out of four break points and secured 31 out of 39 first serve points in the matchup to seal victory in an assertive manner. A total of 129 points were played in the match and the unseeded French clinched 70
out of them en route to victory.
A huge challenge waits Mahut in the round of eight; as he has to compete against the belligerent world number seven, Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic. The top seed Berdych started off his campaign in Montpellier by destroying Florent
Serra, in straight sets, 6-0, 6-2, in the second round of the tournament. The hot favourite Czech will play against Mahut on Friday night and the winner will be awarded a berth in the semi-finals of the Open Sud de France.
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