Sergiy Stakhovsky outlasts Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the final qualifier – Mutua Madrid Open 2012
Ranked 82nd in the world, Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky, qualified for the main draw at the Mutua Madrid Open, as he prevailed over Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France in three sets 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 in the final qualifier of this ATP World Tour Masters
1000 event in Spain.
Stakhovsky gained lead from the beginning of the match, winning opening two games to move ahead 2-0. Although Roger-Vasselin did not take much time either to level the score at 2-2, it was an all Stakhovsky show later on, as he snatched four consecutive
games to seal the opener at 6-2.
The Ukrainian kept his first serve percentage at 61 and pocketed 10 of the 14 points on them. He gave a satisfactory performance in the other departments of the game too, clinching 11 of the 20 first and six of the 10 second reply points in the opener.
Stakhovsky and Roger-Vasselin did not drop their serves in the first six games of the second set and equalised the score at 3-3. The Frenchman bagged the only breakthrough in the seventh and capitalised on it to win 6-4.
The 84th ranked player, Roger-Vasselin, pounded three aces but also committed one double fault in the second set. The French contender delivered 67 percent of the first serves and secured impressively 17 of the 20 points on them. The 6ft 2in tall
saved both of the break points he faced and converted one of the two he received.
Roger-Vasselin got the upper hand by breaking his opponent in the very first game of the decider and holding his next serve to take a 2-0 lead but that did not last for too long, as Stakhovsky struck back to level the score at 2-2. The following seven games
went with the servers, taking it to 6-5 in favour of Stakhovsky. The Ukrainian played aggressively at that moment and the plan worked, as he broke Roger-Vasselin to close it 7-5.
Stakhovsky banged in four aces and 76 percent of the first deliveries, grabbing 20 of the 25 points on them in the decider. The Ukrainian was unable to put away the only break threat he came across but succeeded in capitalising on the two chances he received.
It took him an hour and 55 minutes to seal win in a close encounter.
The 26-year-old, Stakhovsky, is slated to face wild card entrant, Ryan Harrison of USA, in the opening round of the main draw.
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