2011 Heineken Open: Nicolas Almagro sails into semis
World number 14 Nicolas Almagro of Spain triumphed in his quarterfinal match at the 2011 Heineken Open in three sets, on Thursday. The right hander overpowered Adrian Mannarino; a qualifier from France, to book his spot in the semis. The final match
score was 7-6, 6-7, 6-2. The battle lasted for a time period of over two hours.
The Spaniard, as a result of this victory, has made his way into the final four round of the Heineken Open on the very first occasion in his career.
"It was a very tough match; I had to be focussed all of the time which was difficult. Sometimes I need to fry a little bit. I think I did not play my best tennis I played a very good game with my head mentally and I am pleased about that”, said the
world number 15 after the match.
Both the players put up a good fight and it was a tight match till the end. The opening set went to tie breaker where Almagro survived in the end.
After losing the first set, Mannarino of France did well to bounce back strongly and the thus forced the set to tie break where he triumphed at 7-6. The Frenchman did not face a single break point throughout the second set whereas Nicolas had two,
which he couldn’t convert.
The decisive set turned out to be a one sided affair in the end as Nicolas broke his opponent during the third game and then maintained that lead till the end to wrap up the match.
Almagro’s experience definitely helped him a great deal in getting past his foe and confirming his spot in the semis.
In the final four match on Friday, former world number 11 Nicolas will meet the winner of the match between John Isner and David Nalbandian of Argentina.
Meanwhile, in other action, top seed David Ferrer of Spain also made his way into the semi final round after beating Philipp Kohlschreiber in three sets earlier in the day. The final score line was 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-3. The battle was stretched to a time
period of over two hours.
Ferrer will face either Santiago Giraldo or Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil in the next round.
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