Stephane Bohli upsets Ryan Harrison in first qualifying round – Swiss Indoors Basel 2011
American Ryan Harrison squared-off against the Swiss, Stephane Bohli, in the first qualifying round of the Swiss Indoors tournament, contested in Basel, on Saturday October 29th. It was the first meeting between the
two and ended up in a major upset as the local boy knocked out a superior ranked Harrison in straight sets with a final score of 6-4, 7-5. The match lasted for almost an hour and twenty minutes.
Superior ranked American was in dismal run of form and his game play clearly depicted that as well. The game started off with a breakpoint for the winner and in the next two games two more breaks were exchanged to push the score
to 2-1 in favour of Bohli.
Harrison needed to break to bring the score on level terms but couldn’t manage to squeeze another breakpoint and his opponent clinched the first set with couple of ace and terrific first and second serve success rate of 91% and
62% respectively.
The total points played in the first set were fifty-eight and the local boy bagged 60% of the points and delighted the home crowd with his guile and power play.
Trailing one set down, it required an impressive display of all-round performance from the World No.75, Harrison, but he couldn’t get control of the game. World No.237, Bohli, was again the first one to break his opponent’s serve
in the fifth game and maintained that lead for two games before the match favourite broke again and brought the score on level terms.
The score was pushed to five games apiece and in the next game Harrison committed a double-fault that helped his opponent to break and Bohli completely capitalized on this opportunity to clinch the next game and finish off an emphatic
upset campaign.
Unexpectedly it was the Swiss boy who secured 58% of the total points played and frustrated his opponent throughout the match. Critical breaks were the pivotal factor that decided the game in the end.
28-year-old Swiss, Stephane Bohli, now faces-off against Lukasz Kubot in the second qualifying round for a spot in the main draw of the event.
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