Olivier Rochus flogs Ruben Bemelmans in quarterfinal – Open De Rennes 2011 CH
Fourth seeded Olivier Rochus flogged lower ranked compatriot Ruben Bemelmans in the quarterfinal of the Open De Rennes 2011, an event on the ATP Challenger Tour. The two players took up the gauntlet on indoor hard courts in Rennes,
France. On Friday the 14th of October 2011, after a one hour and seventeen minutes the fourth seeded Belgian got the better off the lower ranked Belgian in straight sets of 6-2, 6-3.
The two challengers had contested against each other once prior to this event and the last they met was at the Gerry Weber Open during the qualifying second round. Rochus had won in straight sets of 6-3 7-6(2) over his rival and
had taken a 1-0 lead in the head-to-head.
Meeting for the second time, Rochus opted to serve first as he had one the service toss and successfully placed himself on the scoreboard at 1-0. Trailing in his footsteps was the lower ranked Belgian, who too managed to hold his
serve and tied the score at 1-1 by the end of the second game. During the following two games the players won on alternate serves and balanced the score at 2-2 by the end of the fourth game.
In the fifth game as Rochus held serve, in the sixth he capitalised from a lucky breakpoint and took the lead on the scoreboard at 4-2. He then repeated the same feat in the last two games and was now one up in the match by clogging
the opening set with a 6-2 victory.
The fourth seeded Rochus capitalised on two lucky breakpoints and himself was not even broken once during the entire set. He reeled off six games while restraining his adversary to only two in the opening set.
The second round of the match was once again initiated by Rochus and he got off to an amazing start by capitalizing on an early breakpoint in the second game and as he held serve in the third, he comfortably placed himself on the
scoreboard with a 3-0 lead. The two then held serve in the following two games and the score had progressed to 4-1 with Rochus still leading the game.
Bemelmans again double faulted on his second serve during the sixth game and endorsed an extremely important breakpoint to his adversary, who was now only a game away but immediately in the next game the lower ranked Belgian broke
the fourth seed to reduce the deficit to 2-5 and then as he held serve to 1 3-5. However as Rochus served for the match in the ninth game, he smashed an amazing forehand winner and sealed his victory of the set and the match.
Next up for the fourth seeded Belgian is the French Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the semi-final of the event.
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