Artem Sitak beats Tomasz Bednarek in the first qualifier – Marburg Open 2012 CH
New Zealander contender, Artem Sitak, faced some early resistance but put it away to topple the world number 817, Tomasz Bednarek of Poland, in straight sets 7-5, 6-3 in the opening qualifier at the Marburg Open in Germany on Saturday.
The 437th ranked player defeated his Polish rival in an hour and 27 minutes.
In the opening set, Sitak snatched a break in the second game and held his subsequent serve to gain a 3-0 advantage. Bednarek responded quickly and grabbed three games consecutively to equalise the score at 3-3. The next five games
went with serve to take the score to 6-5 in favour of the New Zealander. Serving to stay in the set at 5-6, Bednarek saved one break point but could not do the same on the second one, losing it 5-7.
Sitak bombarded four aces but also conceded two double faults in the opener. The New Zealander kept his first serve percentage on 56 and clinched 15 of the 23 points on them. He also won most of the points on the second deliveries
and returns, securing 11 of the 18 and 12 of the 19 points on them respectively. Sitak evaded one of the two break threats he faced and availed two of the seven opportunities he created.
The New Zealander contestant did exactly the same in the second set what he had done in the first, as he snatched opening three games to race to a 3-0 lead. Bednarek also came close to repeating his response, as he clinched next
two and reduced the trail to 2-3 but he lost his serve again in the following game to go down 2-4. The Polish player failed to stage a comeback and dropped it 3-6.
Sitak banged in three aces but his first serve percentage was quite low, reaching just 48. However, his first delivery conversion rate and second returns were impressive, as he pocketed 12 of the 15 and eight of the 13 points on
them respectively.
The New Zealander is slated to play the second seed, Denys Molchanov, in the second round of the qualifying draw.
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