Richard Berankis defeats Evgeny Donskoy in the first round – Orleans Challenger 2012 CH
Ranked 85th in the ATP World Tour Rankings, Richard Berankis, fought past the Russian challenger, Evgeny Donskoy, in the first round of the Orleans Challenger 2012, held at the hard courts
of France. The Lithuanian native summed up his win in nearly two hours on Monday.
The 22-year-old Russian commenced a brilliant start in the opener and confidently drew the first blood to attain the early lead in the contest. Nevertheless, he received a strong competition at the hands of his
rival, who levelled the scores to 2-all in the fourth game. Both players oscillated the momentum amongst one another and continuously evened out the score line in the set. They had a strong baseline defence against and aggressively held their serve throughout.
In due course, Berankis concluded the set with a 7-6(3) score, after a moderately paced tiebreaker round.
Berankis fired five aces onto his challenger but had a lower initial serve presentation of 49 percent. Nevertheless, he secured a remarkable score of 18 of 19 first and 12 of 20 second delivery points. His Russian
rival had a relatively better first serve accuracy of 57 percent, pocketing away 19 of 23 first points.
Surprisingly, the world number 126, Donskoy, quickly activated his pace in the second set. He stepped forward with a strong determination and broke his rival’s initial serve. Taking advantage of the situation,
he bagged the first two games and gleefully stamped his 2-love lead. This aroused an alarming situation for the Berankis, as he faced a tough time to defeat his previous win. Struggling hard, he busted the Russian rival’s serve in the eighth game, evening
out the score line to 4-all. However, he was unable to sustain his win and Donskoy nudged forward and stamped his 6-4 lead.
In the decider, the right-hander Lithuanian tennis professional, returned to the game to steal his lost glory. He broke his opponent’s serve in the second and fourth game respectively, stamping his remarkable
5-love lead. The Russian seemed ineffective in front of Berankis, as he could only snatch away one game. Ultimately, he bestowed the victory upon his rival, facing a 1-6 loss.
In the final set, the right-hander Lithuanian bombarded four aces, with an average initial serve of 54 percent, winning 10 of 13 point. Donskoy attained 44 percent initial serve with four of seven points to conclude.
In the next match, Berankis will battle against the third seeded, Xavier Malisse.
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