Stephen Coppinger, Karim Abdel Gawad move into the semi final – London Open 2011
Kicking off the quarterfinal was second seeded South African Stephen Coppinger against unseeded Hungarian Mark Krajcsak at the PSA World Tour Challenger 15, Coronation London Open 2011 which is in its fourth year.
The two challengers had dulled swords against each other at the Cumberland Lawn Tennis Club in London, Great Britain and after thirty six minutes, the second seeded South African was able to whip the unseeded Hungarian in straight sets of 11-9, 11-5, and 11-5.
The opening match saw both the players match a blow for a blow and the head-to-head run between the two progressed well into the opening round. The $20,000 tournament saw the second seeded South African smash a few lasting attacks to boost his performance and displayed a nail biting match. The 27 year-old from Cape Town had always kept a tighter length along with the depth this not only let his opponent, Krajcsak strike the tin more frequently but also enabled him to secure the opening round.
The second round saw the unseeded Hungarian plummet further and this time he had a poor service style along with a pathetic return. He disappointed his fans by not playing the simplest of shots and eventually ended up losing most of his points. Nonetheless, the second seed was in superb form and clogged the second set as well. He was now only a game away from his victory.
The second set would decide the fate of both the players. The two initiated a goose chase but it ended abruptly in the middle of the set as the unseeded Hungarian was unable keep up with the pace and had lost his stamina. Ultimately the second seeded South African had sealed his victory of the set and the match.
Later in the day, fourth seeded Egyptian Karim Abdel Gawad found a tad difficulty in ousting English qualifier Eddie Charlton in the quarterfinal of the Coronation London Open 2011. The fourth seed had managed to get rid of the home boy in a lengthy seventy six minutes as he recoiled from a set down to score a 9-11, 11-8, 11-6, 13-15, 11-7.
During the opening round of the match the Englishman’s performance was boosted by his home crowd and he got off to a good start. Both the players managed to bag their service points but eventually the English qualifier benefitted from two successive points to clog the opening round.
As he maintained his performance, he managed to clog the opening round by restricting his opponent to only nine games. In a reversal of fate the second and the third sets were captured by the fourth seeded Egyptian. However, Karim once again threw the gauntlet in the fourth set. Nevertheless, by the end of the fifth set, Karim had bagged three sets and managed to expertly seal his victory of the match.
The winners of both the matches will contest against each other in the semi final of the tournament.
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