Victor Crivoi downs Andreas Haider-Maurer in the opening round – Kosice Open 2012 CH
World number 317, Victor Crivoi of Romania, put up a strong show at the start of the event, as he blew away Austria’s fifth seed, Andreas Haider-Maurer, in straight sets to reach the second round at the Kosice Open in Slovakia
on Tuesday. The Romanian dropped just six games in the entire contest, downing Haider-Maurer 6-2, 6-4 in just an hour and 28 minutes.
Crivoi and Haider-Maurer started off by holding their serve in the first two games, taking the score to 1-1. The Romanian struck in the third and but failed to consolidate on it, levelling it at 2-2. Later on, it was an all Crivoi
show as he broke the Austrian twice, claiming four games successively and closing it 6-2.
The Romanian did not smack any ace and committed one double fault in the opener. His first serve performance was above satisfactory, keeping the percentage at 70 and grabbing 16 of the 23 points on it. However, the 30-year-old
could not perform that well on the second ones, as he lost seven of the 10 points. He compensated that by clinching amazingly nine of the 11 second return points.
The start of the second set was not different from the first, as both players won their opening serves to even out the proceedings at 1-1. Crivoi claimed a breakthrough in the third and this time he consolidated on it to move ahead
3-1. The Romanian did not drop his serve even once till the end and sealed it 6-4.
Crivoi banged in one ace but this time but his double faults also increased to two. He had a low first serve percentage of 48 but succeeded in bagging 12 of the 16 points on them. On the other hand, Haider-Maurer bombarded four
aces and converted 14 of the 21 first serves into points. However, the Austrian was unable to make use of both of break chances he created and failed to save one of the two he faced in the second set.
The right-hander, Crivoi, is drawn to take on either Agustin Velotti of Argentina or the wild card entrant, Dominik Hrbaty, in the second round.
Tags: