Olivier Rochus ousts Josselin Ouanna to reach quarters – Orange Open Guadeloupe 2012
In a battle between two wild card entrants, top seeded Olivier Rochus edged past Josselin Ouanna in straight sets at the Orange Open Guadeloupe 2012 on Thursday night. He jolted down a 7-6(7), 7-5 victory against the 25-year-old French to progress into the
final eight at this ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour event held in Le Gosier, Guadeloupe.
The Belgian star overcame 17 aces struck by Ouanna to secure a place in the quarter-finals at this hard court tournament in their fourth meeting. The contestants previously fought each other at the Davidoff Swiss Indoors where Rochus laboured past the French
in troublesome three sets.
Rochus entered the Stade Lambert Lamby with poise and held his serve in the opening game to take the initial lead. He then maintained consistency in his game and smoothly slid his entire serves without facing any blockage.
The French on the other hand showed similar intensity and plucked his entire serves without encountering any breakpoint.
As a result, the set went to the tie-breaker where the higher ranked contestant jumped to a 4-1 lead before pulling out the opener with a 7-6(7) score line.
Ranked 52nd in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Rochus kept momentum sailing into the following set and held his serve in the second game to tie the scores at 1-1. He then earned the critical break in the third game and consequently
went 3-1 up. Apart from losing his serve in the tenth game, the Belgian remained calm and stroke out the last two games to bag the set with a 7-5 win.
All in all, the Belgian summed up a better first serve share of 66 per cent as opposed to Ouanna’s 54 per cent and impressively clinched 37 out of 47 points on it. Rochus spilled five double faults and failed to save the lone breakpoint he faced. However,
he capitalised on two out of six break opportunities to earn the limelight.
Next up for the Rochus is the Slovakian qualifier, Ivo Klec, who trashed the Portuguese star, Gastao Elias, in straight sets to set-up this match.
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