Radek Stepanek downs Benjamin Becker in the second round – Wimbledon Championships 2012
World number 27, Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic, ousted Germany’s 124th ranked player, Benjamin Becker, in straight sets 6-2, 7-6(4), 6-3 in the second round of the Wimbledon Championships in London on Thursday.
Stepanek did not take much time to go up by breaking the German in the first game and holding his following serve to attain a 2-0 lead. The Czech star hit another blow in the seventh and capitalised on it to close it 6-2.
The former world number two, Stepanek, smashed two aces and did not commit any double fault. The 33-year-old had a low first serve percentage of 63 but managed to convert 11 of the 12 of them into points. The Monte-Carlo Monaco
resident did not play much aggressively, as he hit just eight winners and made two unforced errors in the opener.
Stepanek and Becker exchanged a single break of serve in the second set, taking the score to 6-6 and forcing a tie-breaker. The Czech played superbly in the crunch situation, hitting accurate ground strokes to race to a 5-1 lead.
Becker tried to make a comeback, as he grabbed three points in a row to reduce the deficit to 4-5 but he could not deliver the final blow, losing two games consecutively after that to go down 6-7(4).
The Czech contender banged in four aces and 65 percent of the first serves in the second set, clinching 24 of the 37 first and 16 of the 24 second delivery points. The right-hander failed to save the only break point he faced but
balanced that by nailing the one he crafted.
In the third set, Stepanek and Becker held their serve in the first three games to take the score to 2-1 in favour of the former. The Czech struck in the fourth one and won his subsequent serve to build a 4-1 lead. Becker pulled
the break back in the seventh to shorten the trail to 3-4 but dropped next two and lost it 3-6.
Stepanek’s performance on served went down, as he did not hit any ace and committed a couple of double faults, losing six of the 11 points on the second deliveries. His ground strokes were also poor but he did quite well at the
net, capturing seven of the nine points.
The Czech contender needed two hours and nine minutes to topple his German opponent.
Stepanek is slated to take on the top seed, Novak Djokovic, in the round of 32.
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