Potito Starace lambasts Jonathan Dasnieres De Veigy in second round – SkiStar Swedish Open 2011
Eighth seeded Italian Potito Starace won a fiercely contested battle with French qualifier Jonathan Dasnieres De Veigy securing a berth for himself in the quarter finals of the 2011 SkiStar Swedish Open to be played on the courts
of Bastad this Friday. The score stood at 6-0, 6-7(5), 6-2 by the match’s end which came after an excruciating two hours and fourteen minutes of play, often marred by the damp condition on Wednesday.
The Swedish Open is an extremely coveted ATP 250 Series Tournament played at the clay courts of Bastad, Sweden. The tournament has the unique honour of being voted by players as the best ATP World Tour 250 Tournament of the Year
consecutively for eight years, beginning in 2002. Over the years Bastad has gradually improved its facilities, the venue and tournament winning praise from the media and players alike.
Italian Starace has garnered significant praise in recent years with his flamboyant performance at the Davis Cup being the highlight of his career. He played a key role in helping Italy end a four match-losing streak by winning
against Slovenia at the Davis Cup only recently. Starace holds an astounding 14-1 record at the tournament. The French De Veigy had earlier defeated German wild card player Andreas Vinciguerra to qualify for a place in this second round match.
Starace easily grabbed the first set for himself without even giving up a single game to his opponent De Veigy. Starace registered three successful serve breaks and deftly served winning 14 of the 19 serve points. De Veigy stumbled
abruptly and was unable to three of the four breakpoints. The set sealed in Starace’s account with the score settled firmly in his favour at 6-0.
The second and longest set of the match undoubtedly troubled many frayed nerves. Both the players battled hard, giving a hundred percent to it. De Veigy eventually managed to pull through after winning the game at tie break. The
set ended 6-7(5) with De Veigy showing improved accuracy at landing serves. He won 21 points of his 26 serves and Starace too had 22.
Starace recovered in the third set winning it 6-2. Starace opened the set by serving both the players registered a serve break each, with the score quickly building up to 2-2. However Starace managed to successfully convert two
other serve breaks later into the set and De Veigy could never recover.
Starace’s toughest match will probably be his next quarter final against top seed Robin Soderling. Soderling, a Swede is looking to reclaim his title and is undeniably the home favourite.
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