Tomas Berdych, Fernando Verdasco beaten in the first round – London Olympics
Steve Darcis beats Tomas Berdych 6-4, 6-4
World number 75, Steve Darcis of Belgium, made the biggest upset of the tennis event so far, as he surprised the sixth seeded Czech player, Tomas Berdych in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 in the opening round of the London Olympics on
Saturday.
The Belgian contender took one hour and 26 minutes to throw his higher ranked rival out of the competition.
The contest started steadily by Darcis and Berdych, as they held their serves in the first eight games to level the score at 4-4. The Belgian succeeded in clinching a breakthrough in the ninth and capitalised on it to triumph 6-4.
In the second set, Darcis struck in the fifth and seventh game to race to a 5-2 lead. The Belgian failed to serve out the set in the following one and also lost the ninth game, taking the score to 4-5. However, Darcis did not allow
Berdych to come at par, sealing it 6-4.
Sharing his feelings after the match, the Belgian said, “It’s an amazing feeling. For me, it was the first time I had played on this amazing court [Centre Court]. When you’re young you watch Pete Sampras playing there and you think,
'maybe one day'. Today, it was my day.”
Darcis is slated to meet Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo in the second round. Giraldo ousted Ryan Harrison of USA in straight sets 7-5, 6-3 in the opener.
Talking about his chances in the next match, the Belgian stated, “I played him in Munich [at the BMW Open] on clay this year and I lost. But I just beat Tomas. I’m playing good, I’m confident, so why not Santiago.”
This will be the third meeting between Darcis and Giraldo on the ATP World Tour. The Belgian trails 0-2 in the head to head series.
Denis Istomin defeats Fernando Verdasco 6-4, 7-6(9)
Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin made the second huge upset of the day by toppling the 14th seed, Fernando Verdasco of Spain, in straight sets 6-4, 7-6(9) to get through to the round of 32.
There was no break of serve in the first nine games of the match, taking the score to 5-4 in favour of Istomin. The Uzbek capitalised on his second set point to capture it 6-4.
Istomin and Verdasco were almost flawless on their serve in the second set, as they did not drop even a single one till the end, squaring off the score at 6-6 and taking it to a tie-breaker. There was an intense battle between
the two players, as they equalised the score at 9-9 but then Istomin managed to win two in a row, closing it 7-6(9).
The Uzbek player will face Gilles Muller of Luxembourg in the second round.
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