Olivier Rochus, Simone Bolelli, Flavio Cipolla make it past first round of Monte Carlo qualifying singles
Olivier Rochus undoes Benoit Paire in three sets 6-2, 5-7, 6-3
World Number 76 Olivier Rochus faced some trouble in his first round match at the qualifying singles against French pro Benoit Paire, but ultimately emerged victorious. He defeated his opponent, who is ranked World Number 119 at
the time, in three sets 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 to lock a position in the second round. The Belgian pro took a little over two hours and eleven minutes to secure this victory.
Perhaps the most surprising thing about this match may seem to be, at the first glance, the fact that Paire managed to score nine aces while Rochus could not even muster one. However, on closer investigation it is obvious that
his high ace rate resulted in six double faults. He was also broken seven times, and played an erratic game. 30-year-old Rochus took the match with 54 per cent of the total points, a feat which is impressive as he lost the second set of the match.
Olivier Rochus will now face Paire’s compatriot Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the second round of the qualifying singles.
Simone Bolelli upsets Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3, 6-3
Italian World Number 114 Simone Bolelli scored a surprising victory over Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan, defeating the top seed of the qualifying singles in straight sets to ensure a spot in the next round. the Italian took a
little less than one hour and forty-five minutes to send World Number 63 Kukushkin home with a 6-3, 6-3 loss.
Both players managed to fire two aces during the match, while Kukushkin played the less-faulty game. Surprisingly, this has little effect on the outcome of the match as Bolelli took 79 per cent of the first serve points and broke
his opponent thrice while fending off all five break points against himself. The match consisted of nine service-and-return games apiece, and ended with Bolelli taking a satisfactory 57 per cent of the total points.
Simone Bolelli will now face French pro Vincent Millot in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters qualifying singles.
Flavio Cipolla overthrows Philipp Petzschner in straight sets 7-6(4), 6-1
Another Italian, Flavio Cipolla scored an impressive upset by undoing World Number 67 Philipp Petzschner in straight sets 7-6(4), 6-1 at the first round of the Monte Carlo qualifying singles. Cipolla, currently ranked World Number
159, took less than two hours to defeat Petzschner.
It was, for the most part, a straightforward match despite a challenging first set. Petzschner did his best to send Cipolla packing in the first set, wrestling all the way to a tiebreaker; however, he lost, and seemed to abandon
all attempts to win the match by letting Cipolla break him twice while the Italian scored 54 per cent of the total points to win the match 7-6(4), 6-1.
Flavio Cipolla will face Portuguese tennis player Frederico Gil in the second round of the singles.
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