Rik De Voest expels Denis Matsukevich in 1st round – Charlottesville
Challenger 2011
Fourth seeded South African Rik De Voest shuts the door on Russian Denis Matsukevich in the first round of the Charlottesville Challenger 2011.
The two took up racquets on indoor hard courts of the Boar’s Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, Virginia and after one hour and twelve minutes fourth seeded South African Voest scored 6-0, 7-6(2) against Russian Denis on
Tuesday the 1st of November 2011.
Initiating the first round of the match was the fourth seeded South African and he powered through the opening game as he reeled of straight two games by capitalizing on a breakpoint in the second game. He then repeated the
feat and further increased his lead to 4-0. During the last two games, he not only bagged his service game but also his opponent's service games and accomplished a flawless bagel victory of the opening set.
The second set of the match was started by Matsukevich and after taking a beating he had pulled his socks but was unable to bag a set. This time the Russian held his service game to commence the scoreboard at 1-0. Following
behind was Voest and he too held his serve to ease himself on the scoreboard at 1-1.
The players then matched a blow for a blow and the score progressed on even terms. The score kept tied at 2-2 and then 3-3 at the end of the sixth game as the players won their respective serves. In subsequent two games,
the challengers broke each other back-to-back; to once more tie the score at 4-4 at the end of the eighth game.
The neck-on-neck run carried well into the second set and the players levelled the score at 5-5 by the end of the tenth game. Eventually the set was shoved into tiebreaker as both once more won games on their respective serves.
The head-to-head run lost its zeal in the tiebreaker and Voest took the lead with two points. Although, Matsukevich tried to make return by holding his serve, at the end, he was only able to bag two points against his adversary.
On the other hand, Voest had rushed past his Russian opponent and clinched the tiebreaker with a 7-2 score.
As Voest clinched the tiebreaker, he fastened his victory of the set and the match in straight sets. Moreover, he managed to reserve a spot in the second round of the event where he will be facing Finnish Harri Heliövaara.
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