Paul-Henri Mathieu tumbles Henri Laaksonen to reach round two – Swiss Indoors 2012
In an all-wild card affair, French contender Paul-Henri Mathieu outmuscled the local challenger Henri Laaksonen in straight sets at the Swiss Indoors 2012 on Wednesday. He nudged up a 6-2, 7-5 victory against the 20-year-old to power into the second round
at this ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 500 Series event held in Basel, Switzerland.
The former world number 12, Mathieu re-ignited his spark to triumph over Laaksonen in their first encounter. After stealing the limelight in one hour and 39 minutes, the French edged in the FedEx ATP Head 2 Head Series by 1-0 against the world number 345
to secure a place in the round of 16 at this indoor hard court event.
Mathieu made a comfortable entry at the St. Jakobshalle. After breaking his rival’s serve twice, he took a 5-1 lead. Despite squandering his chance of serving out the set, the veteran capitalised on another break chance in the last game and clinched the
opener with a 6-2 score line. He sent away one out of two breakpoints he faced and cashed half of the six break chances to move a step closer towards his goal.
Currently ranked 101st in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Mathieu maintained consistency in his game in the following set. He hammered angled shots to slide in his entire serves with conviction. The French got the breakthrough in the last
game and conquered the set with a 7-5 win. He was never threatened with any breakpoint and converted one out of five break chances to his advantage.
The 30-year-old withstood nine aces but spilled fewer double faults to neutralise the effect. He clobbered a slightly lower first serve share of 52 per cent as compared to his rival’s 53 per cent but impressively marked 25 out of 29 points on it. Mathieu
also fired four aces and ended the match with 82 points.
Mathieu will face off the Russian contender, Nikolay Davydenko, who stunned fourth seeded Stanislas Wawrinka in straight sets. The Russian dominated in both sets tie-breaker, eventually sealing the deal with a 7-6(7), 7-6(3) score line.
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