Ryan Sweeting strains past Gilles Muller in the opening round – Apia International Sydney 2012
Getting through to the main draw as a lucky loser, America’s Ryan Sweeting had a real rough ride before he finally took down the 54th ranked Luxembourgian competitor, Gilles Muller, in the opening round of the Apia International
Sydney on Monday. The enthralling three-setter lasted for two hours and three minutes before the world number 72, Sweeting, settled the final scores at 3-6, 7-6(2), 7-5, in his favour.
Being part of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 swing, the contest was played on the hard courts of the NSW Tennis Centre in Sydney, Australia. The 24-year-old American avenged his defeat he suffered
at the hands of Muller at Delray Beach in 2009 and levelled the head-to-head tally by 1-1 against him.
Muller was off to a flying start in the opening set and absolutely devastated his opponent to get one up early in the contest. Sweeting made a tremendous recovery in the following set, launching a series of attacking manoeuvres
to transfer pressure back on his opponent and clinched the second set to bring the contest back on even terms. With the competition evenly poised at one-all, the decider was bound to be a thriller and it actually proved out to be. Both contestants threw away
everything they had in their bag at each other and the final set went to the wire. Sweeting proved to be a better man in the end and a timely serve break closed out the match in his favour, sending him in the round of 16 of the Apia International Sydney.
Muller fired 10 cracking aces and bagged 48 out of 55 first serve points in the match, while the winner competitor closely followed him with 45 out of 53 points. It was only a matter of time that a few crucial points won by the
American contestant shifted the momentum in his favour and he eventually went on to win the matchup.
Sweeting will take on the winner of the match between in the Uzbek qualifier, Denis Istomin and the Spaniard, Pablo Andujar, in the second round of the tournament. Both men will go one-on-one against each other on Monday and the
winner will take on Sweeting for a place in the quarter-finals of the ATP World Tour 250 event in Sydney.
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