2011 Abierto Mexicano Telcel: Nicolas Almagro defeats Victor Hanescu 6-3, 6-2
World Number 13 Nicolas Almagro has been lighting up the ‘Golden Swing’ with consecutive titles at Buenos Aires and Costa do Sauipe, and he seems determined to further his winning streak with a victory at Acapulco, the last Latin America tournament. The
Spanish tennis pro defeated Romanian World Number 57 Victor Hanescu in straight sets 6-3, 6-2 in the first round of the 2011 Abierto Mexicano Telcel.
The match was a very easy one for the 25-year-old player, who took just one hour and twenty minutes to defeat his opponent. Hanescu tried to keep up in the first set, managing to score one ace more than his opponent. However, Almagro broke Hanescu once and
did not commit any double faults; he also won 38 of 67 total points in the set to win 6-3.
Hanescu, who is currently World Number 57, seemed to be exhausted and disheartened after his first-set loss. He quickly fell to Almagro in the second set, when the Spanish player scored four aces and successfully converted three of five break points. Although
Hanescu recovered briefly to break Almagro once, he could not keep up this performance and fell to his opponent after Almagro scored 60 percent of the points in the set. He won the match 6-3, 6-2.
This victory raises their head-to-head score to 3-0 for Almagro, who has defeated Hanescu twice before. Their first meeting was in 2009 at the Barcelona event on clay, where Almagro walked off the court with a victory after Hanescu retired in the last set.
The scoreline was 3-6, 7-6(7), 2-2, with the Romanian player winning the first set.
Hanescu gave up the match to Almagro for unexplained reasons. This is not the first time that the player has created controversy by retiring; he also quit his 2010 Wimbledon match with German player Daniel Brands, and responded to the jeers of the crowd
by spitting at them. He was fined and threatened with a life-time ban for his conduct.
Their latest meeting was at the 2011 Auckland tournament in New Zealand earlier this year. This marked their first match on a hard court, as the two players met in the round of the last 16. Almagro scored a fair and square victory over his opponent by winning
the match 6-4, 7-6(3) to advance to the next round.
Nicolas Almagro, who is seeded third at this tournament, will now compete against Italian player Filippo Volandri. Volandri managed to defeat Portuguese lucky loser Frederico Gil, winning their first round match in three set 6-1, 3-6, 6-4. He and Almagro
will battle it out for a place in the quarterfinal.
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