Sebastian Decoud undoes Andre Begemann in semi-final – Quito Challenger 2011
Argentine Sebastian Decoud battled past two tiebreakers against German Andre Begemann in their semi-final match at the Quito Challenger in Ecuador on Saturday, 22nd October. The lower ranked Argentine toiled for a little
over two hours as he secured a straight, though not so simple, sets victory registering a twin set score of 7-6(2), 7-6(2).
Meeting here in exactly the same match, the pair had first met in 2009. Begemann’s losing streak had begun then. Decoud has now managed to extend his winning streak to three matches over the German.
Recreating their 2009 semi-final match, Begemann opened serve comfortably before breaking his opponent in the second game to clinch a 2-0 lead. However, the lead was short lived as Decoud broke back immediately and held serve in
the fourth game to level the score to two games each. The set progressed on even terms from there on. Successful holds of serve with no breakpoints, the set was eventually forced into a tiebreaker.
Holding the German to two points, Decoud rushed into an early lead before clinching the set with a 7-2 tiebreaker win. Despite hitting no aces to his opponent’s five and a lower first serve than Begemann, Decoud was able to clinch
three more points, recording 41 to the German’s 38, to go one up in the set score.
The second set was a carbon copy of the first one without the exchange of breakpoints. Although the German did look to break the Argentine in the fifth game, Decoud was able to save the breakpoint to hold his serve. The cat and
mouse chase forced the set into the second tiebreaker of the match. However, the German lost steam in the tiebreaker as he was once more held to two points while the Argentine rushed into the lead. Once more recording lower stats except for his second serve
win of 64 percent; Decoud was able to clinch the set with only four more points.
Recording lower stats overall in the match only give testament to the fact that the crowd support does have an effect on the outcome of the game. With the local crowd supporting a South American, Decoud was able to clinch a straight
sets victory to move on ahead in the event.
The Argentine now moves on ahead to play fifth seeded Spaniard, Daniel La Nava in the title match of the event.
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