Victor Hanescu crushes Andreas Haider-Maurer to lift the title – Banja Luka 2012 CH
Third seed Victor Hanescu dumped the Austrian star, Andreas Haider-Maurer, with a breadstick at the Banja Luka Challenger 2012 on Sunday. He clobbered a 6-4, 6-1 victory against the world number 104 to capture the title at this ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour event taking place in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Romanian seed showed top class performance to outshine Haider-Maurer in their first encounter. After recording the victory in one hour and 20 minutes, Hanescu convincingly captured the title.
Hanescu stepped into the Bosnian dirt in high spirits. He showed brilliant defensive skills to keep his entire serves and required a single break of serve to pull out the victory with a 6-4 score line. The Romanian brushed off all three breakpoints he came across and converted one out of three break chances to his advantage.
Ranked 80th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Hanescu went out of control in the following set. He amazingly dusted away the lone breakpoint he came across to keep his entire serves. The Romanian cashed in all three break chances to seal the set with a breadstick.
The Romanian veteran did not lose a set en route to the final showdown. He trashed the Spanish challenger, Jose Checa-Calvo, with a breadstick in his opening round match. Hanescu carried his momentum in the next round and triumphed over the local contender, Aldin Setkic, in straight sets. In the quarter-finals, he devastated Croatia’s Nikola Mektic with a bagel and set up date with Italy’s Simone Vagnozzi.
Hanescu battled Vagnozzi in the morning session before taking down Haider-Maurer. He lost his serve twice but cashed in four out of eight break opportunities to clobber a 6-4, 7-5 victory in one hour and 36 minutes. The Romanian produced a better first serve share and acceptably availed 28 out of 47 points on it.
All in all, the 31-year-old manifested a better first serve share of 77 per cent as opposed to his rival’s 67 per cent and amazingly clicked 30 out of 40 points on it. He also smacked two aces and finished the match with 65 points.
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