Last years winner Florian Mayer is again amoungst the best 16 at the GERRY WEBER OPEN. Winning clearly 6:0, 6:4 against Benoit Paire. The German will now either meet Jan-Lennard Struff or Lucas Pouille in the Round of 16.
The match started well balanced on both sides. Both players fought in full length for every ball. Mayer was able to push through close, he went in the lead 2:0 with a break. Paire didn't like this score at all. The quick-tempered Frenchman threw his racket on the grass, before hitting it against the players benches. He was warned by the umpire but in spite of that, his anger was also clear in the third match: he hit the ball over the stalls a few times. The referee judged Paires' next service as lost. Mayer was now leading 4:0. "It wasn't easy to keep calm", Mayer said after the match about his opponants' behaviour. The Frenchman only calmed down slowly, his shots were too bulky and nearly always went behind the baseline.
In the second set Mayer and Paire then played more evenly. Mayers shots were more thoughtful, he let the Frenchman run often and convinced with a mixture of hard shots, stops and changes of speed. Therefore he got the deciding break 5:3, before after just 55 minutes converting his first match point. After the duel Mayer was relieved: "It would have been unfair to have lost the match to someone behaving so badly."
