Robin Haase stuns Alexandr Dolgopolov in quarterfinal – Winston-Salem Open 2011
First upset at the Winston-Salem Open 2011 came on Thursday, 25th August when underdog, Robin Haase, went on qualifying for the semis seat beating the higher ranked world No.22, Alexandr Dolgopolov in straight sets 6-4,
6-4 in just an hour.
Playing at Wake Forest University, Winston Salem, USA hard court, the 22-year-old higher ranked Ukrainian was pushed off by the Dutch world No.42 before he could make a comeback. Striking with the quarter-final win, Haase levelled
up the head-to-head score with the 22-year-old.
Haase, right-hander, has been performing up to the mark. Out of his last 10 fixtures, the Dutch has won 9 of them and had the gurus pointing their fingers on him just because of his stats. Losing his previous match against the
Ukrainian, Haase made a comeback, revenging his loss and making it to the next round at the same time.
The 22-year-old, on the other hand, has had an equally good run in his last 10 matches winning 7 of them. Winning the Umag Challenger earlier this year, Dolgopolov has been successful in improving his rankings; however, the clay
court contender had a hard time chasing up on the fast track.
Nevertheless, the match started off with Dolgopolov serving first for the starter and winning the game-1. Following up with his challenger, Haase levelled up the scores winning game-2 and switched the serve.
Breaking the Ukrainian in the game-3, world No.42, Haase, took away game-4 next to take a 3-1 lead in the opening set. The scores hiked up, however, Dolgopolov could not break back and led on to lose the first set, 6-4, and on
to the next set.
The Ukrainian once again served first to open the set and took the lead. However, the Dutch followed up quickly levelling up the scores and switching the serve. Dolgopolov slipped as he lost a crucial breakpoint serving game-3.
Breaking back in game-4, Dolgopolov levelled up with the 24-year-old at 2-2 but was unable to retain his momentum and once again gave away a breakpoint serving game-5. With scores at 3-2, Haase followed by winning another game
to lead 4-2.
Maintaining the 2 games lead, the Dutch ended up with winning the second set as well and bagged a straight set win against the world No.22 qualifying into the semis.
Adding another match to his winning streak, Haase now looks forward to win the semi-final of the Winston-Salem Open 2011.
Surely he can bring about another upset if the 24-year-old clears into the final; however, his challenger in the semi-final, Julien Benneteau, has been unbeaten since qualifiers and would certainly be a tough brick in the wall.
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