Radek Stepanek wraps up first round against Ze Zhang with ease – Shanghai Rolex Masters 2011
Radek Stepanek, Czech world No.26, beat Ze Zhang, Chinese world No.307, in the opening round of Shanghai Rolex Masters 2011. It was an easy win for the former world No.8 as he struck the 21-year-old off the court 6-3, 6-3 in an
hour and eight minutes.
Playing on blue hard courts of Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena in Shanghai, China on Tuesday, 11th October, the 32-year-old did not have much problem defeating the local lad despite the overwhelming home crowd support.
With two taking their positions, Stepanek opened up the fixture serving out the first game of the match, 1-0. Ranked world No.26, Czech did not give much chances to the Chinese world No.307 and broke early charging down and leading
2-0.
Mustering away with the third game, the 32-year-old extended his lead to 3-0 before Zhang made his first run, game 4, 1-3. Stepanek backhanded the next winner to extend his lead to 4-1, however, could not break again. Cutting down
the lead to 2-4, Zhang followed up with a win but was unable to breach the Czech’s defence.
With scores at 4-2, the veteran followed up serving out two out of the next 3 games to bag the first set, 6-3, and moved on to the next.
Unmatched and well down in ranking, Zhang was once again broken by the world No.26 in the opening game of the second set, though he managed to break back for the first time and level up the scores at 1-1. Following with a win,
the Chinese world No.307 led the match for the first time, 2-1.
Nevertheless, Stepanek did not take much time to level up the score winning game 4 with a triple game point, 2-2. Rallying out the next 2 games with a win each, the two levelled up again at 3-3 before the Czech exploded.
Breaking the lower ranked local lad, Stepanek charged in and broke the 21-year-old and led the set 4-3. With just two more game left to his win, the 32-year-old followed up with a vicious forehand winner on his serve winning, game
8, 5-3, and moving on to return for the match.
Ending the match in style, Stepanek blazed the third breakpoint of the set, captured the final game and the second set, 6-3, to win the match in straight sets.
Through into the 2nd round with mere difficulty, the former world No.8 will now play the sixth seed, world number ten Tomas Berdych, to battle it out for the third round seat of the ATP Masters 1000 event.
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