Yannick Mertens crushes Bastian Knittel to cruise into round two – TEAN International 2012
Belgian rising star, Yannick Mertens, devastated the German challenger, Bastian Knittel, with a bagel at the TEAN International Tennis Tournament 2012 on Tuesday. He jolted down a 6-4, 6-0 victory against the 29-year-old to power into the round of 16 at
this clay court tournament held in Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands.
The Ternat resident displayed his class to slaughter Knittel in their first meeting. After earning this fame in one hour and 16 minutes, Mertens comfortably advanced into the second round at this ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour
event taking place from 1st to 9th September.
Mertens made a drastic entry at the Ditch clay courts. He gifted away his opening serve and fell at 0-3. However, the Belgian went berserk and wiped out five games in a row, eventually sealing the opener by winning six games to four. He failed to block the
lone breakpoint he faced but converted two out of five break chances to his advantage.
Ranked 221st in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Mertens went into savage mode again. He unleashed flurry of groundstrokes and pocketed all six games consecutively to pocket the bagel. The Belgian was never challenged with any
breakpoint and converted three out of 12 break opportunities to his advantage.
On the whole, the 25-year-old took full advantage of many unforced errors Knittel spilled. He produced a lower first serve share of 64 per cent as opposed to his rival’s 75 per cent but impressively marked 21 out of 29 points on it. The Belgian also struck
four aces and sought 17 break chances.
Up next for Mertens is the Ukrainian challenger, Ivan Sergeyev, who stunned sixth seed Jonathan Dasnieres De Veigy in a three set thriller to set up this epic encounter.
The fifth seed, Inigo Cervantes, will accompany the Belgian in the following round. He amazingly warded off six out of seven breakpoints he faced and capitalised on two out of eight break opportunities to manipulate a 7-6(4), 6-4 score line. The Spaniard
smashed six aces and produced a better first serve share to pull out the victory.
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