Steve Darcis upsets Alex Bogomolov Jr. in qualifiers; moves into main draw at Roland Garros
Qualifying 26th seed, Belgian Steve Darcis stunned qualifying top seed, American Alex Bogomolov Jr. with a breadstick on Friday. He registered a 6-1, 6-3 victory over the 28-year-old to advance into the main draw of the 2011 Roland Garros, the Grand Slam held in Paris, France.
A former top fifty player, Darcis has a good season on the Challenger tour so far. He reached the quarter-finals of many Challenger events including Guangzhou, Pingguo and Napoli Challenger series and then made into the main draw at Memphis before entering this Grand Slam.
Currently ranked 133rd in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, the Belgian entered Stade Roland Garros convincingly and downed Monaco Jean-Rene Lisnard and Brazilian Rogerio Dutra Da Silva in troublesome three sets in the first two qualifying rounds. He then raised his game in this match and slew the highest ranked player in the qualifying draw in straight sets.
The 84th ranked American on the other side of net was in great form as he recently made final berths at Sarasota and Prague Challengers. He overpowered Brazilian Ricardo Hocevar and South African Rik de Voest in three set thrillers to reach this spot. Regardless of being in good shape, he barely survived in the opening set where he won just one game. As a result Darcis won the opener with a breadstick in just twenty-seven minutes.
The lower ranked Belgian kept his winning ways into the final set and held his opening serve superbly. Later he lost his serve once but broke American’s serve three times to clinch the set with a 6-3 win.
27-year-old smacked nine ferocious aces in the match and despite producing a lower first serve share of 68 percent as compared to American’s 72 percent, Darcis registered a spectacular 75 percent win on it. He failed to save the only breakpoint faced but converted five out twelve breakpoint opportunities to his advantage to seal the deal in one hour and fourteen minutes.
Up next for the Belgian is the French Michael Llodra in the first round of this main event. 31-year-old is having a monotonous season so far as the furthest he progressed was reaching the quarter-finals at Marseille and Madrid. He lost to Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in the opening round at Rome before entering this event.
Bogomolov Jr. on the other hand became a lucky loser since he advanced into the main draw as well. He will face Spaniard Marcel Granollers in the first round later in the event.
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