Strydom beats top seed

NAMIBIA’S Jurgens Strydom put in a great performance to beat the top-seeded Matteo Volante of Italy in yesterday’s quarter-finals of the ITF Men’s Futures Tennis Tournament.

Strydom wore the Italian down with strong groundstrokes and powerful serves, but once he won the first set 6-4, the Italian seemed to give up. He didn’t make much of an effort in the second set as Strydom raced into a 4-0 lead before Volante finally won his first game.Strydom maintained his grip on the match with his strong serves and accurate groundstrokes, while Volante was too wild, hitting his returns all over the place and seemingly not being interested in the outcome.Volante won only one more service game in the second set before Strydom served out to take the set 6-2 to win the match.Strydom entered the tournament as a wild card and was not even seeded for the match and his victory against the world’s 501st-ranked player is sure to increase his world ranking.Strydom will now meet another qualifier, Heinrich Heyl of South Africa, who beat Matthias Dorfler of Germany 6-0, 7-5.SECOND SEED ALSO ELIMINATED The second seed for the tournament, Edward Seator of England, was also eliminated in the quarterfinals yesterday, going down in three sets to the sixth seed, Claudio Grassi of Italy, 2-6, 7-6, 7-6.Seator comfortably won the first set 6-2, but Grassi fought back to force a tiebreak in the second set.The players matched each other till 8-all, before Grassi went on to win the tiebreak 10-8.Both players gave it their all in the third set which also went to a tiebreaker, which Grassi eventually won 7-5.Grassi will meet an unseeded player, Richard Ruckelshausen of Austria, who beat Benjamin Janse van Rensburg of South Africa 7-6, 7-5.In the doubles semi-finals yesterday, the third seeds, Mark Idan and Saar Steele of Israel, staged a fine fightback to beat Candy Idoko of Nigeria and Jason Wolfsohn of South Africa in three sets.Idoko and Wolfsohn won the first set 6-2, but the Israelis took the second set 6-3 before winning the super tiebreak 10-8 to win the match.The Israeli pair will now meet the Austrian pair of Richard Ruckelshausen and Bertram Steinberger, who beat the first seeds Claudio Grassi and Matteo Volante of Italy, 6-3, 3-6, 10-8 in the other semi-final.The singles semi-finals are scheduled to start at 10h00 at the National Tennis Stadium in Olympia and will be followed by the doubles final.www.namibiasport.com.naHe didn’t make much of an effort in the second set as Strydom raced into a 4-0 lead before Volante finally won his first game.Strydom maintained his grip on the match with his strong serves and accurate groundstrokes, while Volante was too wild, hitting his returns all over the place and seemingly not being interested in the outcome.Volante won only one more service game in the second set before Strydom served out to take the set 6-2 to win the match.Strydom entered the tournament as a wild card and was not even seeded for the match and his victory against the world’s 501st-ranked player is sure to increase his world ranking.Strydom will now meet another qualifier, Heinrich Heyl of South Africa, who beat Matthias Dorfler of Germany 6-0, 7-5.SECOND SEED ALSO ELIMINATED The second seed for the tournament, Edward Seator of England, was also eliminated in the quarterfinals yesterday, going down in three sets to the sixth seed, Claudio Grassi of Italy, 2-6, 7-6, 7-6.Seator comfortably won the first set 6-2, but Grassi fought back to force a tiebreak in the second set.The players matched each other till 8-all, before Grassi went on to win the tiebreak 10-8.Both players gave it their all in the third set which also went to a tiebreaker, which Grassi eventually won 7-5.Grassi will meet an unseeded player, Richard Ruckelshausen of Austria, who beat Benjamin Janse van Rensburg of South Africa 7-6, 7-5.In the doubles semi-finals yesterday, the third seeds, Mark Idan and Saar Steele of Israel, staged a fine fightback to beat Candy Idoko of Nigeria and Jason Wolfsohn of South Africa in three sets.Idoko and Wolfsohn won the first set 6-2, but the Israelis took the second set 6-3 before winning the super tiebreak 10-8 to win the match.The Israeli pair will now meet the Austrian pair of Richard Ruckelshausen and Bertram Steinberger, who beat the first seeds Claudio Grassi and Matteo Volante of Italy, 6-3, 3-6, 10-8 in the other semi-final.The singles semi-finals are scheduled to start at 10h00 at the National Tennis Stadium in Olympia and will be followed by the doubles final.www.namibiasport.com.na