Victor Hanescu rallies past Victor Crivoi into the second round – Sibiu Challenger 2012
Romania’s Victor Hanescu made a comeback after going down in the first set to topple 335th ranked compatriot, Victor Crivoi, 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the first round of Sibiu Challenger in Romania on Tuesday. Hanescu required
one hour and 43 minutes to oust his opponent.
Both players held their opening serves to equalise the score at 1-1. Crivoi claimed initial breakthrough in the third game and consolidated on it to attain a 3-1 advantage. The Romanian continued with his killing spree, capturing
three more in a row to grab it 6-1.
Crivoi hit 71 percent of the first serves and converted nine of the 10 of them into points in the opening set. The 30-year-old lost six of the eight points on the second returns but he did a very good job on the second deliveries
and first replies, securing three of the four and 14 of the 19 points on them respectively. Crivoi did not come across any break threat and availed three of the four chances he got.
In the second set, Crivoi and Hanescu exchanged a break of serve in the first six games to even out the score at 3-3. Hanescu nailed a break in the seventh and won his following serve to move ahead 5-3. He dropped one game but
did not allow his rival to come on equal terms, closing it 6-4.
Hanescu smashed three aces and committed one double fault, maintaining a first serve percentage of 70 and pocketing 16 of the 23 points on them. The Bucharest, Romania resident grabbed five of the 10 first delivery and three of
the six second return points. The 6ft 6in tall saved four of the five break points he faced and converted the two he received in the second set.
Carrying the winning momentum into the decider, Hanescu clinched opening four games to build a 4-0 lead. Crivoi broke the bagel by holding his serve in the fifth and taking the score to 1-4 but Hanescu did not allow him to win
any more game, bagging it 6-1.
The Romanian is drawn to meet wild card entrant, Florin Mergea, in the round of 16.
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