Radek Stepanek slays Santiago Giraldo in opening round – Davidoff Swiss Indoors 2011
Seventh seeded Czech Radek Stepanek swallowed Colombian Santiago Giraldo with a breadstick at the Davidoff Swiss Indoors 2011, an ATP World Tour 500 series event taking place at St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland. He barely
sweated in the opening set to register a 6-1, 6-3 victory over the Pereira native to secure a second round spot on Wednesday.
32-year-old Czech veteran broke Giraldo’s serve four times to earn a straight set victory in almost an hour on Basel’s indoor hard courts. Facing for the second time, Stepanek not only extended lead in the head-to-head series by
2-0 against the Colombian but also remained on course to lift his second year-to-date title.
After the Colombian held his opening serve in the second game, world number twenty-five Stepanek unleashed flurry of groundstrokes to go on a five games rampage and earned a breadstick. He brushed off both breakpoints came across
and converted two out of five breakpoint opportunities to his advantage. The Czech produced a slightly higher first serve share of 53 percent as opposed to his opponent’s 50 percent and registered an impressive 71 percent win on it.
Stepanek maintained consistency in the final set and quickly bagged in entire serves without facing any hurdle. In addition to this, he cashed in both breakpoint chances to his advantage, one in the fifth game and the other in
the ninth game, and sealed the set with a 6-3 score line. The high spirited Czech manifested a lower first serve share this time around but earned a superb 82 percent win on it.
Up next for the Czech is the seventh seeded American Andy Roddick who dumped German Tommy Haas in straight sets to reach this spot. Stepanek needs to focus on his game to find his rhythm in order to upset a seed. If he manages
to succeed, a four times champion and a former world number one, Roger Federer will be waiting for him in the quarters.
Dutch number one Robin Haase will be joining Stepanek in the second round. He fended off late resistance by Swiss lucky loser Marco Chiudinelli to register a straight set victory.
Haase required one hour and twenty-eight minutes overpowering the Swiss in a match which saw the Dutchman hitting twelve furious aces. He saved one out of two breakpoints faced but capitalised on three out of five breakpoint opportunities
to register a 6-2, 7-6(7) score line.
24-year-old Dutch not only took lead in the head-to-head series by 1-0 against the local star but also set up a clash with another local star, Stanislas Wawrinka.
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