Tommy Haas shocks Juan Ignacio Chela in opening round – Erste Bank Open 2011
German qualifier Tommy Haas rallied past fifth seeded Argentinean Juan Ignacio Chela in a three setter mouth watering match at the Erste Bank Open 2011, an ATP World Tour 250 series event taking place on the indoor hard courts
in Vienna, Austria. He registered a 6-7(3), 6-3, 7-6(5) score line to upset the 32-year-old Argentinean and advanced into the second round on Tuesday.
A former world number two, Haas re-created his 2002 magic to stun the seed, ranked 29th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour rankings, in almost two and half hours. He lost the opener but overpowered the Argentinean
after dominating in the final set tie-breaker.
Both stars played their best tennis in the opening set as they both smashed four aces and smoothly bagged in entire serves without facing any breakpoint.
Chela clobbered a lower first serve share of 57 percent as compared to German’s 67 percent but registered an impressive 72 percent win on it.
The Set was dragged to a tie-breaker where the Argentinean outclassed Haas and sealed the victory with a 7-6(3) win.
The Argentinean carried his momentum and swiped in his opening three serves comfortably before running out of gas.
Haas on the other side went berserk to reel off last four games in a row and clinched the equaliser with a 6-3 victory.
The German brushed off the only breakpoint faced and converted two out of five breakpoint opportunities to his advantage. In addition to this, he manifested an amazing first serve share of 75 percent as opposed to Chela’s 55 percent
and registered an incredible 78 percent win on it.
33-year-old German carried his momentum into the final set and got the first blood in the sixth game to have an edge. However, he lost his serve in the ninth game and dragged the set to a tie-breaker. Haas dominated in it and eventually
pocketed the set with a 7-6(5) score line.
"Coming through the qualifying helped me probably pull off that match today," said the delighted Haas. "It was very, very tight till the end... Even the tie-break I was up 6-2, then finally put it away at 6-5. Great feeling. These
are the kind of moments that you work hard for and try to get back to. It would’ve been a heartbreak loss, but it’s a great feeling to win one of those."
Currently ranked at 273rd in the ATP rankings, Haas will lock next lock horns with Slovenian qualifier Aljaz Bedene who earned a 7-6(4) retirement victory over the injured Ivo Karlovic of Croatia.
The Slovenian cruised into the Wiener Stadthalle and smoothly bagged in entire serves without facing any breakpoint. However, he failed to find any breakpoint opportunity and took the set to a tie-breaker. Bedene was all over the
court in it to clinch the set with a 7-6(4) success.
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