Samuel Groth steals a win against James Lamke in round one – Burnie International 2012 CH
Aussie age fellows, Samuel Groth and James Lamke, contested in the first round of the McDonald’s Burnie International tournament on Tuesday. Surprisingly the inferior ranked, Groth, outplayed the 285th ranked,
Lemke, in straight sets 6-4, 6-3. The 24-years-old, Groth, required just an hour and 12 minutes to beat his compatriot and confirm a spot in the second round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professoinals) Challenger Tour tournament.
It was the second meeting between the participants. Groth had ousted his compatriot in the earlier face-off during the quarter-final of the Australia F13 tournament in November last year. It seemed like the psychological
pressure played its part as Lemke wasted a classic opportunity to level the head-to-head scores.
Both players kicked-off the match in cautious manner; holding on to their serves without taking any sort of risks to improvise and manipulate the proceedings. Scores kept ticking and no breaks were witnessed for the first
nine games of the match. There were couple of occasions when both players had their opponents under the cosh (closing on a breakpoint) but failed to deliver the finishing touch to take the lead.
Finally it was the inferior ranked Aussie that swallowed the pressure and played smartly to deceive his opponent with his guile. He played couple of drop shots that were coupled with two breathtaking winners down the line
to break his opponent’s serve in the tenth game and seal the first set win. Trailing one set down, Lemke seemed frustrated by his shot selection in the last game that lowered his overall confidence level.
After winning the opener, Groth started the proceedings in the second set with a successful serve game. He was followed by his compatriot and scores progressed to 1-1. No breakthroughs were witnessed in the next three games
and scores tickled over to 3-2 in favour of Groth. In an intense battle during the sixth game that witnessed four deuces, Groth broke his opponent’s serve to take the lead that proved to be the pivotal factor in deciding the set. Lemke was once again trailing
and couldn’t catch up to his opponent. With this loss, Lemke departs from the tournament, with his compatriot moving ahead to round two.
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