Izak van der Merwe was walking tall at the South African Open tennis tournament on Tuesday after gaining a convincing 6-3 6-2 revenge victory over Frenchman Stephane Robert — a finalist in the R3,5-million Montecasino event last year.
And the big-serving South African Davis Cup player, who lost to Robert in the early rounds in last year’s tournament, said afterwards he was hoping to secure another slice of revenge in the second round, when he faces Germany-based Jamaican Dustin Brown — a player who beat him in last year’s Soweto Open final.
The second day of the South African Open, which started in sunshine at noon, was delayed by rain in the late afternoon and the elements had the final say, causing the night session to be abandoned, in which defending champion Feliciano Lopez was due to make his first appearance.
However, it also produced a shower of surprises.
Apart from the elimination of Robert, second seeded Yen-Haun Lu of Tapei suffered a deflating first-round defeat when he fell foul of the cannonball serves of Canadian Milos Raonic during a 6-3 6-3, loss.
But for those who had followed the explosive exploits of the Montenegro-born Canadian qualifier at the Australian Open, the result was hardly unexpected after Raonic had beaten 10th-seeded Mikhail Youzhny and 22nd-seeded Michel Lodra in Melbourne.
Disappointment
A disappointment for the six-strong South African contingent in the singles at Montecasino was the defeat of 19-year-old prospect Nikala Scholz, who was not disgraced in a closely fought 6-4 7-5 defeat against Germany’s Dennis Gremelmayer.
If anything, the second day of play proved again the value of a big serve in high-altitude conditions, with Van der Merwe and Raonic quite devastating in this respect.
Rain halted play soon after South Africa’s number one and main hope in the tournament, Kevin Anderson, had recovered from a shock first set setback to Switzerland’s Stephane Bohli to win 4-6 6-4 6-2.
But when Anderson served an uncharacteristic three successive double faults and looked set to surrender a service break early in the third set, the most jarring upset of the day appeared on the cards.
Fortunately for the tournament, Anderson regained his composure and the South African dream lives on.
When play was eventually abandoned for the day, third-seeded Janko Tipsaravic of Croatia was level with Jesse Galung Huta at a set apiece and 3-3 in the third set. — Sapa