2011 French Open: Lukasz Kubot shocks Nicolas Almagro in the opening round
122nd ranked Polish competitor, Lukasz Kubot gave a shocker to the tennis world when he dispensed out the world number 12, Nicolas Almagro of Spain from the opening round of the French Open on Tuesday. Tennis fans at
Paris, France, were absolutely stunned when Kubot concluded his surprise victory over Almagro at 3-6, 2-6, 7-6(3), 7-6(5), 6-4, to move on to the second round of Roland Garros.
The Pole exhibited tremendous courage and determination to snatch victory from the in-form Spaniard to rule the day. Kubot was two sets down in the contest but battled valiantly to power his way right back into the game and surprise
every one. He displayed his nerves of steel to tackle the immense pressure situations of the competition and survived match points on more than occasions to turn the tables on Almagro.
Seeded 11th in the tournament, Almagro has been in magnificent form in the running ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) season and was 26-6 on clay surface this year, prior to his loss to the Pole. The Spaniard
has already bagged three championship titles this year and had defeated Kubot on three occasions last year, running a clean 3-0 record against him. It was least expected that Kubot will be able to take down the Spaniard in the contest, provided the excellent
form he was in but he kept his focus in the game to craft opportunities of his own to win the battle.
Almagro had a blistering start to the matchup and took down his opponent in the opening two sets to get a commanding position in the contest. He bagged two sets at 6-3, 6-2 and it appeared as if he was heading for a comprehensive
straight sets victory but it happened the other way round. The Spaniard registered 69 winners and 18 cracking aces in the competition, yet finishing on the losing end. Kubot conceded 58 unforced errors, including 10 double faults in the contest, while Almagro
spilled away just 23 errors.
A dramatic turnaround took place in the third set, as Kubot posed some serious resistance to the Spaniard. He dragged the third set into a tie breaker round, which he eventually won at 7-6(3) to keep alive in the game. Kubot repeated
the similar feat in the next set as well, denying Almagro of match points on two occasions and sealed the fourth set at 7-6(5). The contest eventually ended when Kubot bagged the last set 6-4 to move on to the second round of the French Open. Up next for Kubot
is the Argentine, Carlos Berlocq, who defeated the Australian wildcard, Bernard Tomic in the first round.
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