Vintage Rosset

Rosset keeps up the pressure on Corretja Keystone

Veteran Swiss tennis star Marc Rosset is through to the second round of the Swiss Indoors in Basel after dumping Spanish third seed Alex Corretja out in three sets.

Tuesday’s match began as a close affair, with both men serving strongly. But a rare lapse by Corretja in the ninth game handed Rosset three break points. He needed just the first to go ahead, before serving out successfully to take the opening set 6-4.

After losing a queried line call near the start of the second set, though, the 30-year-old Genevan appeared to lose his concentration. Double-faulting to give Corretja a break point, the former Swiss number one buried the next ball into the net to fall 3-1 behind.

In his strongest spell of the match, Corretja surrendered just two points on his own serve throughout the whole set, eventually clinching it 6-3.

Rosset recovered admirably, however, in time for the deciding set. In a sudden reversal of the preceding set, the Swiss player began to look unbreakable on his own serve, while the world number 11 was suddenly starting to wobble.

A great lunging return by Rosset followed by a shot into the net by Corretja saw the Spaniard taken to break point in the set’s fourth game. A further net shot was followed by one which went well wide, sending Rosset into a 3-1 lead and putting the Basel crowd on the edge of their seats.

Unlike with so many of Rosset’s performances this season, the crowd were not to be disappointed. A further break to 5-1 and a comfortable service game to follow saw Rosset punching the air in delight and Corretja leaving the court as the first seed to fall this week.

by Mark Ledsom, Basel