Xavier Malisse downs Jesse Huta Galung; advances into the quarterfinal – UNICEF Open 2011
Third seed Xavier Malisse of Belgium dumped Dutch wild card entrant Jesse Huta Galung in straight sets to advance into the last eight of the UNICEF Open 2011, an ATP World Tour 250 series event held in s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands.
He hold back early resistance by 25-year-old Dutch to register a 7-6(2), 6-4 win on Wednesday.
A former Wimbledon semi-finalist, Malisse took one hour and thirty-seven minutes to triumph over the wild card on their first meeting. After earning this success, The Belgian took the lead in the head-to-head series by 1-0 against
Galung.
Both players played their best tennis in the opening set and displayed exceptional skills to break each other’s serve once. They held their remaining serves by pinging the balls expertly onto the lines and produced an acceptable
first serve share.
Regardless of a tough opener, the Belgian showed his class in the tie-breaker where he dominated. He was all over the court and eventually clinched the set with a 7-6(2) win.
Ranked 41st in the South African Airways ATP World Tour rankings, Malisse outshined the Dutch, ranked 75 places below him, completely in every department of tennis in the final set. He plausibly held his opening serve
in the second game to level the scores at 1-1. The Belgian then held on to his remaining serves by saving four breakpoints faced with his amazing defensive skills. He founded four breakpoint chances and converted one to his advantage to seal the set with a
6-4 victory.
Malisse flashed six ferocious aces and clobbered a higher first serve share of 71 percent as compared to Galung’s 57 percent. He also earned a superb 77 percent win on it to help clinch the match easily.
A former top twenty, Malisse made a thunderous start of the season by reaching the final at Chennai before losing to Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka in troublesome three sets. Later, his form dipped and after exiting from early rounds
from all the tournaments he entered, the Belgian secured a last eight spot for the first time since January.
30-year-old Belgian will next face American Alex Bogomolov Jr. who warded off early resistance by Italian Filippo Volandri to advance into the final eight spot with a straight set victory.
28-year-old American took eighty-three minutes to triumph over the Italian, who is a year older than him, earlier that day. Bogomolov Jr. saved three out of four breakpoints conceded and converted three out of ten breakpoint chances
to his advantage to clinch the match with a 7-6(2), 6-2 score line.
Tags: