Stefano Galvani swallows Artem Smirnov to cruise into the second round – Guzzini Challenger 2011
A local star Stefano Galvani crushes Ukrainian Artem Smirnov with a bagel to advance into the second round of the Guzzini Challenger 2011 – Trofeo Francesco Guzzini on Tuesday. He barely broke sweat to register a 6-2, 6-0 score
line against the 23-year-old Ukrainian to earn the glory at this ATP Challenger Tour event held annually at the Circolo Tennis Francesco Guzzini in Recanati, Italy.
World number 226, Galvani showed a brilliant display of tennis on the hard courts in Recanati to crush the Ukrainian, ranked 55 places below him, in just under an hour. Meeting for the first time, the Italian eased past Smirnov
to book a second round spot in this event.
After Smirnov held his opening serve in the first game, 34-year-old Italian jolt down his experience in tennis and with perfect angled shots from his box of tricks, he reeled off next five games in a row. The Italian then held
his serve in the eighth game to bag the opener with a 6-2 win.
He faced zero breakpoint and converted two out of three breakpoint opportunities to his advantage. The Italian also took full advantage of the several unforced errors and five double faults the Ukrainian committed. Above all, he
put the cherry on the set by registering a spectacular 91 percent win on his higher first serve share.
The Padova native, Galvani perfected his winning ways in the final set as he faced zero breakpoint and converted three out of nine breakpoint opportunities to his advantage. He rolled the balls perfectly onto the lines and regardless
of clobbering an equal first serve share of 40 percent; he earned a magnificent 83 percent win on it.
Next one for the Italian is the toughest of all, i.e. the highest ranked player of the tournament. He will face top seeded German Rainer Schuettler who dumped Croat Nikola Mektic in straight sets to reach this spot.
Schuettler was never threatened throughout the match and after capitalising on three out of nine breakpoint chances to his advantage, he sealed the match with a 6-3, 6-3 score line in seventy-one minutes.
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