Paul-Henri Mathieu continues his impressive comeback at Grand Prix Hassan II – Tennis Special
French challenger, Paul-Henri Mathieu, blasted past the local wild card entrant, Mehdi Ziadi, with a breadstick at the Grand Prix Hassan II 2012 on Tuesday. He joggled up a 6-3, 6-1 success over the world number 613 to secure a place in the round of 16 at
this ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 series tournament taking place in Casablanca, Morocco.
Mathieu played his best tennis to trash the 25-year-old in their first encounter. After earning the glory in this 67-minute battle, the French veteran advanced into the second round at this clay court event.
"It always feels good to come back to a place where you won in the past," said the beaming French in a courtside interview. "I'm happy to be back in Casablanca after missing last year."
The 30-year-old high-spiritedly entered the Complexe Al Amal and held his serve in the opening game to take the initial lead. He continued hammering powerful forehands to keep his serve until he drew the first blood in the sixth game and went 4-2 up. Despite
losing his edge in the very next game, Mathieu availed another break opportunity in the eighth game and consequently sealed the opener with a 6-3 win.
Ranked 394th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Mathieu went berserk in the proceeding set and stroke out the opening four games in a row before the Moroccan could hold on. He maintained his intensity and bagged the last two
games to pull out the set with an assuring 6-1 victory.
Summing up the veteran’s performance at this epic battle, Mathieu took full advantage of the many unforced errors and four double faults the wild card committed. The French failed to ward off the lone breakpoint he faced but converted five out of six break
opportunities to his advantage.
Mathieu was out from tennis from November 2010 till February this year due to a knee injury. However, he is continuing finding his old form after displaying impressive skills.
"I haven't set a ranking goal for this year," Mathieu was further quoted after the match. "I will have to wait a little bit and hopefully I will be consistent enough to move up in the rankings."
The former world number 12 was injured at the Basel Indoors two years ago after conquering the German star, Florian Mayer, in straight sets in the opening round. He tried to make a comeback at the Wimbledon Championships last season but withdrew from the
event due to the same injury. However, Mathieu impressively returned to action at the Open Sud de France earlier this circuit and tumbled over the German contender, Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, in straight sets in his opening round match. Despite losing in the second
round, he cruised into the pre-quarters at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Championships through qualifiers (Mathieu was ranked 733rd at this event). His impressive run of form led him jump to the world number 417 before entering the Marseille ATP event.
Apart from exiting the Open 13 in the opening round, Mathieu enthusiastically entered Casablanca.
Up next for the French is Guillermo Garcia-Lopez from Spain who stunned the eighth seed, Fabio Fognini, in a three set thriller on Monday to set-up this clash. Mathieu can easily progress into the quarters if he plays in a similar way.
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