Stephane Bohli surprises Benjamin Becker in the quarter-final of the Status Athens Open
Seventh seeded Stephane Bohli of Switzerland blew away the top seed German Benjamin Becker in the quarter-final of the Status Athens Open in Athens, Greece on Friday. The devastating Bohli wrapped up an emphatic straight sets victory
at 6-3, 6-1, in merely 54 minutes of play to step into the semi-finals of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour event.
It was highly unlikely that the in-form German crash out of the tournament in such a manner, being defeated by the seventh seed in less than hour. Becker simply couldn’t match up to the pace of his competitor, who beat him in every
segment of the game. Bohli remained dominant throughout the contest and dictated most of the rallies in the game. He broke the German’s serve four times while facing not a single break point in the whole matchup.
29-year-old Becker served equally well to his opponent but his error-ridden game led him down in the contest. The German collected only 24 out of 46 total serve points, while spilling out three double faults in the game. He hung
in the opening set for a while before the Swiss bagged it but his below par performance in the next set caused his ejection in from the Status Athens Open.
Bohli had a blistering start to the game, firing four aces in the opener with his 64 per cent precise serve. He reeled off 15 of 18 first serve points in the opening set and kept playing good aggressive tennis to put his opponent
under pressure early. The two contestants held their serve in the opening six games to take the scores to 3-3, before Bohli stung the first serve break of the contest to lead 5-3, serving for the set. The Swiss eased out of the first set at 6-3 and get the
upper hand in the contest.
Although Bohli’s first serve percentage significantly dropped to a mere 50 per cent, he reeled off all the points on it to remain ahead of his opponent. The Swiss crafted five chances to break the opponent’s serve and converted
three of them en route to victory. A total of 33 points were played in the game, with Bohli clinching 24 and Becker taking just 9. Bohli finished off the match at 6-1 to move on to the semi-final draw of the Challenger Tour tournament.
The Swiss will now be taking on the fourth seed Matthias Bachinger of Germany in the semi-final round before he gets a shot at the title at Athens. Bachinger was successful against the Spaniard, Guillermo Alcaide in the quarter-final
matchup, defeating him in straight sets 6-3, 6-4.
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