Uladzimir Ignatik defeats Alexandre Kudryavtsev to win 2011 Guangzhou Challenger
Belarusian number one male tennis player, Uladzimir Ignatik, secured a thumping 6-4, 6-4 victory over the Russian Alexandre Kudryavtsev in the final of 2011 Guangzhou Challenger Series on Sunday.
Ignatik started off in fine fashion and looked to assert dominance over his opponent right from the outset. He took the first set with an important serve break in the seventh game. Ignatik played with freedom and scored some breathtaking
points in the set.
The second set also followed a similar pattern. Although Ignatik lost one of his serve games in the set, he broke back immediately to establish firm control over the situation. He then continued to pressurize the challenger and
made the break to complete a deserving victory in straight sets. The 20 year old adopted an aggressive baseline play strategy and smashed fabulous forehands and backhands to his opponent’s half of the court. He then surprised Kudryavtsev with his chip shots
every now and then. Besides his attacking ability, Ignatik had a rock solid defence as well that allowed him to save crucial breaks points during the contest.
Ignatik displayed high quality ground play and his serve was on target most of the times. With his blistering serves he managed to convert a good percentage of the first serve points. The Belarusian dominated in the serve return
department as well breaking the serve at regular intervals. The 7th seed was delighted with his effort at winning his first trophy of the year in China.
Ranked world number 156 tennis-pro has done extremely well at the international level in recent times. He lost only a set in his five appearances at the 2011 Guangzhou Challengers and has now won 9 of last 10 his matches. Earlier
this year he performed brilliantly at the Davis Cup winning both his matches for Belarus including a five set marathon against Todor Enev. He will be feeling confident about the way things have gone for him so far and hope for another strong appearance on
his return.
Kudryavtsev on the other hand was disappointed with his ordinary performance. He did well to create chances in the contest but failed to convert them and thus paid the price. His break points conversion was also on the lower side
and that also played its part in deciding the outcome of the match. The 25 year old struggled with his game and gave away a large number of unforced errors.
The Russian is ranked 144th in the ATP rankings and has given considerable results since the start of this season, however, injuries have forced him out of several tournaments. Although he ended up as a runner-up at
the event, he would be satisfied with his overall effort in the tournament.
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