Robby Ginepri downs Tommy Haas in the first round encounter – Atlanta Tennis Championships 2011
A major upset for tennis fans at Atlanta, the United States, as the former world number two, Tommy Haas of Germany crashed out of the opening round of Atlanta Tennis Championships, succumbing to the local wildcard, Robby Ginepri,
on Tuesday afternoon.
It was an enthralling contest being played on the hard-courts of Atlanta, with Ginepri convincingly beating the German wildcard entrant in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5, to advance to the second round of the ATP (Association of Tennis
Professionals) World Tour 250 tournament. It took one hour and forty five minutes for the American to register his first singles victory in the running ATP season.
Hass stood victorious last time when these two men met in the round of 32 of the US Open, defeating the American in a five set thriller 7-6(1), 6-4, 3-6, 3-6, 7-6(1). The German failed to repeat the similar feat on Tuesday and
crumbled in straight sets to let Ginepri improve his head-to-head series against him by 2-4.
The opening set witnessed some intense tennis from both players in the beginning but Hass tend to lose his steam later on. The American was phenomenal with his serve, delivering 73 per cent of it on target and bagging 18 out o
f 27 first serve points in the set. Five thudding aces were also register by Ginepri, while Hass fired just two in the entire contest.
The German delivered merely 48 per cent of his serve right but reeled off 11 out of 14 first serve points in the first set to keep the score board ticking on even terms. Hass register the first serve break of the match to lead
3-1 early in the opener but two successive serve breaks from Ginepri left him answerless at 4-6, losing the first set.
A routine game was witnessed in the next set, which took the scores to 3-3, before the American nailed his third serve break of the day in the seventh game, only to be broken in the very next game to fall back at 4-4. Ginepri then
stung an all-important break point in the 11th game and then served out of the match with the utmost ease at 7-5, to get access to the second round of the tournament.
Up next in the second round for Ginepri is the Luxembourger competitor, Gilles Muller, who upset the seventh seeded Alex Bogomolov in the opening round of Atlanta Tennis Championships.
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