Olivier Rochus upsets Alex Bogomolov Jr. in round one – Regions Morgan Keegan Championships 2012
Belgian ace, Olivier Rochus, surprised everyone after stunning the fifth seeded Alex Bogomolov Jr. in a mouth-watering three setter at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships 2012 on Wednesday. He formulate a 1-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) victory over the Russian to
advance into the second round at this hard court tournament held in Memphis, United States.
The 31-year-old made an epic comeback from a set down to shock the seed in two hours and 17-minutes battle. Facing each other for the first time, Rochus assertively secured a place in the round of 16 at this ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World
Tour 500 series event.
The Florida resident, Bogomolov, confidently entered the Racquet Club of Memphis and held his serve in the opening game. After Rochus kept his serve in the proceeding game, the Russian blasted powerful groundstrokes to wipe out the last five games in a row,
ultimately pulling out the opener with a breadstick.
Ranked 51st in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Rochus turned the tides around in the second set. After exchanging a series of serve breaks, he squared the scores at 4-4. Rochus then stroke out the last two games and clinched
the equaliser with a 6-4 score line.
The Belgian ace kept momentum rolling into the final set and earned the desiderated break in the second game to go 3-0 up. Rochus maintained consistency in his game until he lost his edge in the ninth game. The set eventually went to a tie-breaker but the
player who stole the show was the unseeded Belgian.
Overall, Rochus coughed more errors and produced a lower first serve share of 57 percent as opposed to the Russian’s 65 percent. However, he capitalised on five out of 11 break opportunities and marked 31 out of 50 points on his first serve share.
Next challenge for the Belgian rising star is the local wild card entrant, Ryan Harrison, who outclassed Jack Sock in an all-American battle. The 19-year-old, Harrison dusted away seven out of nine breakpoints he came across and cashed in two out of six
break opportunities to seal the deal with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 success.
Austrian number one, Jurgen Melzer, will join the Belgian in the second round. He lost the opening set but hit back with a fitting reply. The high flying Austrian lost his serve twice but broke Denis Istomin’s serve three times to register a 6-7(2), 6-3,
7-6(4) score line.
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