Like his sluggish victory against the Jordanian Abedallah Shelbayh on Tuesday, Luca Van Assche once again showed too many blunders for his second match at the Next Gen Masters in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) this Wednesday. But against Hamad Medjedovic, who defeated Alex Michelsen when he entered the fray, it was far too detrimental to hope for a better outcome. Lacking accuracy and realism, the Tricolore, seeded in the red group, logically fell against the Serbian (2-4, 4-2, 3-4 [7]1-4, in 1h50).
Although he was guilty of many unforced errors (28 in total), Medjedovic never really seemed in danger, as Van Assche never knew how to seize his opportunities (1 break point converted out of 7). The Serb, 110th in the ATP rankings, secured his first balls (69% for 5 aces) to pocket the first round. If the Frenchman showed a much better face in the second, taking advantage of the multiple direct errors of his opposite number, he was quick to fall back into his faults.
A tie-break that changed everything
While leading 5-1 in the tie-break of the third set, the native of Belgium finally broke (7-9) in what was the final turning point of the game. Angry with his serve (33% of first serves) and too tender in the decisive moments (3 wasted break points), Van Assche was not able to reverse the course of the game.
With this setback, the Habs slip to second place in the red group and will play their qualification against the American Alex Michelsen on Thursday.
