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2011 Australian Open: Spaniards battle through to the next round

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2011 Australian Open: Spaniards battle through to the next round
Three of four Spaniards competing in the second round matches of the Australian Open on Wednesday made it through to the next round after hard fought battles.
Ninth seed, Fernando Verdasco made it through to the next round after an enthralling five setter. Having debuted in 2004, Verdasco’s career best at the event came in 2009 when he made it all the way to the semis before losing to eventual champion and compatriot, Rafael Nadal.
Kicking off his eighth year at the event, Verdasco drew against German Rainer Schuttler in the first round. After doing away with the German in straight sets, Verdasco moved ahead to setup a second round clash with Janko Tipsarevic.
Verdasco had his serve broken twice by Tipsarevic with the latter going in the lead and securing a 6-2 win. Maintaining his form into the second set, Tipsarevic won it 6-4 and led the set score 2-0. Bouncing back in the third set, Verdasco reversed the score to clinch a 6-4 victory before going into the longest set of the game.
Entering the fourth set, both players were caught in a neck-to-neck race determined not to give up the lead. Forcing the set into a tiebreaker, Verdasco finally broke the Serb’s serve and rushed to a 7-0 victory. Verdasco ensured his survival in the event as he dominated the court in the fifth set, clinching a bagel set win.
In a match that lasted almost four hours, Verdasco served twenty-three aces, lost 62 of 158 points on service and converted 6 of 13 break points to secure a 3-2 win. Verdasco advances in the next round to meet Kei Nishikori. The latter defeated Florian Mayer 3-1 to move ahead in the event.
After winning his match, Verdasco said, “He was playing really good and aggressive, so I just tried to be a little bit more aggressive with my serve, with my forehand. Also trying to get the timing at the return to try to put him a little bit more in trouble with his serve. I kept fighting all the time, because I was really close to losing today. I think that just my mentality was the key, one of the biggest keys today, to come back.”
Joining Verdasco in the third round is compatriot and fourteenth seed Nicolas Almagro. After defeating qualifier Stephane Robert 3-1 on Monday, Almagro moved into the second round. Coming into the next round the latter was pitted against Igor Andreev.
Going neck-to-neck in the first set, Almagro was able to secure a 7-5 victory in 45 minutes. However, failing to maintain his form Almagro lost the next two sets 2-6, 4-6. Bouncing back in the fourth set, Almagro was able to force the set into a tiebreaker. After a tooth and nail battle he was able to win 12-10 levelling the set score. Repeating the first set feat in the fifth, Almagro clinched a 7-5 victory to move ahead in the event.
Next, Almagro goes ahead to play 17th seed Ivan Ljubicic.
Also making his way to the third round was Tommy Robredo. Having earlier defeated wildcard entrant Somdev Devvarman in straight sets in the first round, Robredo met 16th seed Mardy Fish in the second round. Bouncing back from being one down in the set score, Robredo registered a triple 6-3 victory to stay in the run. The score line was 1-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3. Robredo will next play Sergiy Stakhovsky, who advanced into the next round after doing away with Lukasz Kubot in straight sets.
The only Spaniard to exit the event today was 25th seed Albert Montanes after he lost to Xavier Malisse in straight sets.
 

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