De Chaunac shocks Granollers

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:17

On a heavily rain-affected day three at Montecasino in Johannesburg where close to five hours were lost, the 31-year-old banked on a solid serve to eventually see him through 7-5 7-6 (7/3).

De Chaunac, who is ranked 225 in the world, claimed 28 out of 35 first serve points to seal victory in just under two hours. He will now face Izak van der Merwe in the next round after the South African upset Benjamin Becker.

The German was on the losing end of another tightly contested match and eventually went down in straight sets to the local wildcard 7-6 (7/4) 7-6 (7/3).

The world number 123 matched his opponent point for point before finally losing in an hour and 32 minutes.

Elsewhere, eighth seed Marcos Baghdatis booked his place in the quarter-final with a less than straightforward victory over another South African wildcard, Raven Klaasen.

The Cypriot sent down 12 aces with his opponent managing to win just 27% of points on return as he fell to a first loss during his only singles outing in 2009.

Baghdatis will next play second seed David Ferrer after the Spaniard sealed his place in the last eight thanks to a straight-sets conquest of German Simon Greul.

The world number 13 had little trouble against a player ranked over a 100 places below him and eventually won 6-3 6-4.

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