Stephane Robert bombards Filip Horansky in opening round – Slovak Open 2011
World No.107, Stephane Robert, made it to the second round stage of Slovak Open 2011, beating his opening round challenger, 18-year-old local lad, Filip Horansky in a straight set match ending 6-2, 7-6(5), in an hour and 11 minutes
hard indoor court match on Monday, 14th November 2011.
Kicking off with the fixture, Horansky, Slovakian world No.881, opened up the match serving the first game of the match. Unable to make his mark early in the set, Horansky broke down as the higher ranked rival rushed away taking
advantage of the first game, serving out the second to lead the set 2-0.
Finally, winning his first win of the set, Horansky rolled down his side of the scoreboard to cut the lead to 2-1. However, the disparity in ranking was shown by the Frenchman, Robert, as he served out game four, 3-1, and broke
the well differentiated Slovakian to lead the set 4-1.
Before the set could conclude in favour of the Frenchman, Horansky bagged one final game, game seven, making the scores 2-win at the end of the set. Leading the match, Robert had a slow start in the second set.
Horansky, serving first again for the set opener, made a strong start this time. Serving out and rolling down the scoreboard, 1-0, Slovakian 18-year-old broke the veteran Frenchman to lead the set with the first two games in his
hand, 2-0.
Bagging his third consecutive win Slovakian was looking to level up the scores yet could not do so. Robert, ranked world No.107, struck back hard. Serving out his first win of the set, game four, 1-3, Robert broke the lower ranked
Slovakian to cut the lead to 2-3.
The set ignited when Horansky broke back right away after the Frenchman leading the set 4-2, and followed with a service winner to extend his lead to an almost winner, 5-2. Twisting the match, Robert served out game eight, 3-5,
broke the fiery Slovakian in game nine, 4-5, and served out game ten to level up the scores at 5-5.
Horansky, serving out game eleven, 6-5, nearly broke the higher ranked Frenchman in game twelve; however, Robert managed to escape with a win and took the match into a tiebreaker. Serving first, Horansky pulled off first few points,
however, the veteran used his techniques to conquer the tiebreaker 7-5, and the set, 7-6(5) to finish off the fixture in straight sets.
Nevertheless, Robert did appreaciate the 18-year-old’s efforts as the two shook hands after the match. Winning his first round match of the ATP Challenger Tour event, Frenchman now moves on to play his second stage fixture against
the winner of the match between Adrian Ungur and Ricardas Berankis.
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