ATP Auckland: David Ferrer eases past Robin Haase. Statham stuns Chung
.
The Spanish veteran played well at Hopman Cup and he carried that form to Auckland as well, serving at 70% and losing just 11 points in seven service games. Haase did break him once but that was never enough after poor numbers he produced behind his initial shot, losing almost 60% of the points in his games and giving the serve away six times from nine chances he offered to David, struggling on both the first and second serve equally.
Ferrer forced an error from his rival to score the first break in game three and he moved 4-1 up after a backhand mistake from Robin in game five, looking better and better on the court. Haase pulled one break back after a poor backhand from Ferrer in game six but he was powerless in his service games, dropping serve for the third time in a row following a forehand error to find himself 5-2 down, allowing David to close the opener in the next game for a 6-2 in just 30 minutes.
Carried by this momentum, David lost just two points on serve in set number two, earning a break in game three and never looking back. Haase got broken again in the fifth game and Ferrer sealed the deal with another break at 5-1 to cement his place in the second round, notching the ATP win number 727.
. Rubin played a solid match, keeping his second serve safe and losing serve twice from four chances he gave to Hyeon.
On the other hand, the Korean has been in a very poor form this year so far and he couldnt find his best game in this match as well, making too many errors and winning just six points behind the second serve to suffer four breaks and hit the exit door.
Hyeon drew first blood with a break in game three when Statham netted a backhand and he broke at love in game five to move 4-1 up, firing a forehand winner in the game that followed to move closer to the opening set. Out of sudden, Rubin started to climb back, prolonging the set after a lucky net cord in game eight that kept him in contention.
He held at 15 in game nine to reduce the deficit even more and he was on the positive side of the scoreboard with another break in game 10 thanks to a forehand error from the Korean. Chung lost the drive completely and he suffered another break in game 12, losing five straight games and handing the set to his rival.
The second set saw eight easy holds on both sides and it was Statham who secured the crucial break in game six when Chungs forehand landed long, holding at 15 in the following game to extend the lead and wrapping up the win with a service winner in game nine that pushed him over the finish line.
This was the third ATP win for the rising star and he earned it after a rock solid display, facing just two break points and suffering one break of serve to mount the pressure on the other side of the net. Cuevas fought well in the opening set, wasting a break point in game nine before Ugo broke him at 6-5 to clinch the opener and move closer to the finish line.
They traded breaks at the start of the second set and it was Humbert who shifted into a higher gear after that, rattling off 24 out of 28 last points to win six games in a row and book his place in the second round. <table
