Victor Hanescu plonks Florin Mergea in round two – BRD Sibiu Challenger 2012 CH
In an all-Romanian affair, second seeded Victor Hanescu downed his wild card compatriot Florin Mergea in straight sets at the BRD Sibiu Challenger 2012 on Thursday. He penned down a 7-5, 6-3 victory against the 27-year-old to charge into the quarter-finals
at this ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour event taking place in Sibiu, Romania.
The Bucharest native showed his true potential to outrun Mergea in their first battle against each other. As a result, Hanescu assertively progressed into the final eight at this outdoor clay court event.
Hanescu enthusiastically entered the Tennis Club Pamira. He drew the first blood in the fourth game to leap to a 4-1 lead. Despite throwing away his lead in the seventh game, the seed remained calm and held his remaining serves with poise. He got the breakthrough
in the last game and consequently clicked the opener with a 7-5 success. Hanescu impressively dusted away six out of seven breakpoints he came across and capitalised on two out of five break opportunities.
Ranked 116th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Hanescu lifted his game in the following set. He got the critical break in the second game and cruised to a 3-0 lead before Mergea could hold on. The higher ranked Romanian then
bagged his remaining serves, eventually sealing the set by winning six games to three. He was never threatened with any obstacle and converted one out of three break chances to his advantage.
Next up for Hanescu is the Croatian qualifier, Toni Androic, who tumbled the American contestant, Denis Zivkovic, in straight sets to set up this meeting.
The top seeded Romanian, Adrian Ungur, also powered into the final eight. He slew the Chilean contestant, Cristobal Saavedra-Corvalan, with a breadstick in one hour and 16 minutes. Ungur lost his serve once but cashed in five out of 12 break chances to formulate
a 6-4, 6-1 score line. The world number 105 clobbered a slightly lower first serve share but brilliantly clicked 23 out of 36 points on it.
Next in line for Ungur is the Italian contestant, Simone Vagnozzi, who upset eighth seed Radu Albot to reach this spot.
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