Mirza Bašić is in the third, final round of qualifications for the first Grand Slam of the season, defeating Marius Copil with 2:0 in sets.
Copil entered this duel as quite favored. The player known for his exceptionally strong service defeated Bašić in the only match they played before this one, at the Challenger in Izmir last year, when the Romanian played better and the result was 2:0 in sets. However, Mirza played this match a lot better, more mature and more stable, making a break as much as four times during the match.
Not all went that smooth, of course, but Mirza’s triumph was kind of insinuated as of the very beginning. Already in the first game Bašić made a break which he lost three games later. However, he made a new break immediately and another one by the end of the set for the leadership by 1:0.
In the second set, both tennis players were secure in their service until the seventh game, when Copil made a break with a zero. Mirza did not fall and did not lose his focus; he made a re-break in the next game and led the set into a tie break which he won with a convincing result of 7:1. In the finals of qualifications Mirza will play against the Indian Saketh Myneni, 168th tennis player of the world.
The other B&H tennis player who performed in the qualifications, Aldin Šetkić, this time did not manage to play good and he was eliminated by the Kazakh Alex Nedovyesov with 2:1 in sets.
(Source: novovrijeme.ba)
