Stefano Galvani, Flavio Cipolla proceed to the quarterfinals – Guzzini Challenger 2011
Stefano Galvani ousts Rainer Schuettler 7-6(2), 6-4
World number 226 Stefano Galvani of Italy made the biggest upset of the event as he defeated top seed Rainer Schuettler of Germany in straight sets 7-6(2), 6-4 in the round of 16 at the Guzzini Challenger in Recanati on Thursday.
The Italian took one hour and 39 minutes to beat his opponent.
Galvani and the German won all their service games in the opening set to take the score to 6-6 and force a tie-break. The Italian thrashed Schuettler in the tie-break, dropping just two points and sealing three mini-breaks to win
it 7-2. The 34-year-old delivered 69 percent of the first serves, claiming 70 percent of the first service points and 53 percent of the second service points in the first set.
The Italian and Schuettler broke each other on a number of occasions in the second set. However, it was Galvani who claimed the decisive break in the ninth game and consolidated on it to bag the set 6-4. The five feet and ten inches
tall returned very well as he clinched an impressive nine of the fourteen first return points in the second set.
Galvani is slated to face unseeded Frederik Nielsen of Denmark in the last eight.
Flavio Cipolla defeats Jan Minar 6-0, 6-1
Joining Galvani in the last eight, another Italian Flavio Cipolla, ranked 106th in the world, crushed world number 720 Jan Minar of Czech republic in straight sets 6-0, 6-1 in the second round. The match lasted for just
an hour and three minutes.
Cipolla did not allow the Czech to win even a single game in the first set, breaking Minar thrice and winning all of his own service games to capture the set 6-0. The Italian had a flawless first serve performance, converting all
the first serves into points in the opening set. The Rome resident also won most of the receiving points as he claimed thirteen of the twenty first return and three of the five second return points in the first set.
In the second set, the 27-year-old did not allow Minar to come back and broke him twice to grab the set 6-1. Cipolla clinched fourteen of the twenty points on the first serves and eight of the fifteen points on the first returns
in the second set. The Italian capitalised on two of the four break point opportunities he created on Minar’s serve and saved the one break point he faced in the second set.
Cipolla is drawn to play fourth seed, Frenchman Kenny de Schepper in the quarterfinals.
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