Victor Hanescu crushes Benoit Paire in the opening round of Open de Nice Côte d’Azur
Romanian Victor Hanescu, ranked 69th in the world, impressed as he thrashed French Benoit Paire, ranked 105th in the world, in straight sets 6-0, 6-1 in the first round of the Open de Nice Côte d’Azur at the
Nice Lawn Tennis Club in Nice on Monday. The Romanian needed just 54 minutes to beat his opponent in an extremely one-sided match.
Hanescu crushed Paire in the first set as he did not allow the French to win even a single game. The Romanian broke his opponent three times and claimed six straight games to win the set 6-0.
The right-handed hit two aces and 68 percent of the first serves, sealing 47 percent of the points on them. On the other hand, Paire served poorly as he did not hit any ace and committed four double faults in the first set. The
French had a disappointing first serve percentage as he managed to deliver just 38 percent of the first serves and won the same percentage of points on them in the opening set. The 22-year-old bagged 53 percent of the first return points in the opening set.
Whereas, Hanescu returned superbly as he converted 63 percent of the first returns into points. The Romanian capitalized on three of the five break points on Paire’s serve and incredibly saved all the six break points on his own serve in the first set.
Hanescu did not allow his opponent to come back in the match, breaking the French twice and winning the second set 6-1.
The 29-year-old had a pretty average first serve percentage as he delivered just 45 percent of the first serves, capturing 89 percent of the points on them in the second set. In comparison, Paire served like an amateur player,
keeping the first serve percentage at a meagre 36 percent and bagging 63 percent of the points on them. The French managed to grab just one out of nine first return points in the second set. Hanescu converted two of the four break point chances he created
in the second set.
With this win, the Romanian improved his win/loss record to 10-15 in 2011. Hanescu began the season at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, where he lost to Ernests Gulbis of Latvia in straight sets 3-6, 6-7(6) in the round of 32. The six
feet and six inches tall was defeated by American Mardy Fish in five sets 6-2, 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 3-6 in the opening round at the Australian Open. In his latest tournament, the right-handed was beaten by Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine in three sets 3-6, 6-1, 6-7(6)
in the round of 64 at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.
The Romanian will play world number 11 Andy Roddick of USA in the second round.
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