Thomas Schoorel defeats Filippo Volandri; clinches the title at Tennis Napoli Cup
Dutch Thomas Schoorel triumphed over second seeded Italian Filippo Volandri in straight sets to clinch the title at the 2011 Tennis Napoli Cup on Saturday.
Ranked 126th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Schoorel defeated the seed, ranked 44 places above the Dutchman, in their first duel in ninety-seven minutes. He registered a 6-2, 7-6(4) win over Volandri
at Tennis Club Napoli to win his second straight Challenger tour title this season.
The Dutchman, currently in his top form, displayed magnificent skills throughout this event. With his top notch performance here at Naples, he upset the top seeded French Jeremy Chardy in straight sets in the first round. Later
on en route to the final, he overpowered Slovakian qualifier Pavol Cervenak, sixth seeded Belarusian Steve Darcis and fifth seeded Czech Ivo Minar.
The 22-year-old portrayed amazing skills to hold his serve in the first game of the opening set. After levelling the scores at 2-2, Schoorel went on savage mode and reeled off proceeding four games in a row to seal the set with
a 6-2 win.
He produced a lower first serve share of 68 percent as compared to Volandri’s 83 percent. However, he earned an assuring 73 percent win on it. Schoorel also clobbered zero double faults, conceded zero breakpoints and converted
two out of four breakpoint opportunities to his advantage.
The Dutchman kept his momentum rolling in the second set and held his opening serve spectacularly. He then got the coveted break in the proceeding game and extended the lead by 2-0. Although Schoorel lost his serve in the very
next game and eventually squared the scores at 2-2, he unleashed his flurry of ground strokes to win the next three games in a row. Due to his shaky performance, the Dutch lost his lead and eventually tied the scores at 5-5. Schoorel then held his serve in
the proceeding game and took the set to tiebreaker where he prevailed to win the set with a 7-6(4) score line.
The nervy Dutchman had a lower first serve share in the final set and clobbered two double faults. He failed to save both breakpoints faced and capitalised only on two out of seven breakpoint opportunities. However, he managed
to prevail in the tie-breaker to win his second straight title. He won the title at Rome Challenger before entering this tournament.
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