Pavol Cervenak battles past Borut Puc into the main draw – Mercedes Cup 2011
The final qualifier match of men’s singles Mercedes Cup on 11th July 2011 was played between Pavol Cervenak of Slovakia and Borut Puc of Croatia. Clay court at TC Weissenhof, Stuttgart was bursting up with fans as the two competitors made their way to open up the final match for the day.
Borut Puc, the huge 6’4” Croatian won his way to the final qualifier round of the Mercedes Cup 2011 beating Romain Jouan and Pablo Galdon in the first two qualifiers. The left handed Croatian is currently ranked at world No. 481 that is his highest career rating by far. Historically, The 20 year old Croatian has played 120 matches in his career mostly on clay courts but this is was his debut on world ATP Tour. Though he has never won a major title, he is well thought-of to be a sturdy opponent.
Challenging the young Croatian at the other side was the 24 year old Slovakian. Ranked at world No.287, Pavol’s performance was appreciable throughout the tour. Beating home player Simon Greul and Matt Simpson of Newzeland, Pavol marked his seat for the final round of the Mercedes Cup 2011 qualifiers.
The match started off with Borut Puc serving for the opening game of the match. Taking away the first game with a close call, Puc started off with a 1-0 game lead. Both players won their serves till the seventh game of the set until the first break point won by the Croatian. With a lead of two games in the first set, Pavol won the next four games and the set. Winning 2 breakpoints the Slovak lead the match winning the first set 7-5.
Puc, once again, served first in the opening game of the second set and succeeded in winning the first game 1-0 followed by Pavol in the second making it 1-1. Puc gave away another breakpoint in the 3rd game and lost giving Pavol a 3-1 lead. The Slovak then maintained his position winning all games on his serve winning the set 6-4 and the match 7-5, 6-4.
The statistical edge that Pavol had was saving six out of seven breakpoints where as Puc managed to save only three of six. Winning 48 service points and 27 returns, the Slovak had a total of 75 against the Croatians 65.
Succeeding in all three qualifiers, Pavol will now play against home player Mischa Zverev in the first round of the Mercedes Cup 2011.
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