Radek Stepanek outplays Marco Chiudinelli into 2nd round – Rakuten Open 2011
Third match for the day, Wednesday, 5th October, went off between the Czech super hero Radek Stepanek and the Swiss world No.237, Marco Chiudinelli, at the Ariake Coliseum, Tokyo, Japan. Playing the second round match
of the Rakuten Open 2011, Stepanek, world No.24 overpowered the lower ranked 30-year-old to grab a close 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-1 win to make it to the quarter-finals.
Walking down the court the two waved back to the huge applaud and took their positions as the match started off with Chiudinelli serving first.
Serving for the opener, the Swiss 30-year-old served out the first game of the match and rolled down the score card, 1-0. Following the world N0.237, Stepanek levelled up winning game 2 and switched the serve, 1-1. Rallying out
games on respective serves, the two contenders mumbled up levelling at 2-2 and then at 3-3 before the Czech struck.
Breaking his Chiudinelli, the 32-year-old extended his lead to 4-3 and served out game 8 to put a 2 games leading by 2 games in the set. Striking back with the same tactic, Chiudinelli served-n-broke the world No.24 and equalled
up the scores at 5-5.
Failing to gain advantage from the breakpoint, Swiss world No.237 fell short and lost his next serve, game 11, with scores now at 6-5. Serving out game 12, Stepanek pulled off the set winning 7-5 and led the match 1-0.
Moving on with the second set, the lower ranked Swiss once again served first and served out the first game of the set. Breaking early in the game, Chiudinelli snatched away game 2 to lead the set 2-0. Extending his lead further
to 3-0 the 30-year-old swirled away with the first three games and stood to return next, 3-0.
Stepanek won his first game as he served out game 4, however, could not break back yet and lost the fifth game with scores now up at 4-1. The Czech struck back when he served out game 8, 3-5, broke the world No.237, 4-5 and served
out again, game 10, to level up the scores at 5-5.
With the match flaring up, the two levelled up again to turn the set into a tiebreaker. Outgunning the former world No.8, Chiudinelli stormed away with the tiebreaker, 7-5, winning the set 7-6(5) and levelling up the match scores
at 1-1.
With the decider on its way, Stepanek served first this time, winning the first game and breaking his rival next, 2-0. The Czech went marvellous as he serve-broke-served the next 3 games and led the match, 5-0. With just one game
left to bag his win, the 32-year-old pulled of game 7 winning the set, 6-1, and the match, 2-1, rushing away into the quarter-final round.
Winning his 2nd round match of the ATP Tour 500 event, Stepanek now moves into the quarter-final round to play the winner of the match between David Ferrer and Matthew Ebden to battle it out for the semis.
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