Adrian Ungur takes down Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo in the opening round of the Serbia Open
Romanian qualifier Adrian Ungur stuns Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo of Spain in the opening round encounter of the Serbia Open at Belgrade, Serbia on Tuesday afternoon. The resilient Ungur laboured for two hours and forty eight minutes
before he outdone his Spanish opponent in a three-set thriller 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-4, to book a berth in the second round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 event.
The crowd at the Tennis Center Novak complex witnessed an enthralling contest between the two contestants. The 33-year-old Spanish veteran had a brilliant start to the game and reeled off the opening set in the tie breaker round
but gradually lost his flare as the game progressed. The more agile Ungur gathered up pace in the later sets of the competition and struck a double blow to Hidalgo to wipe him out of the tournament. It was Ungur’s fourth victory in the current ATP season,
which sets him up against the world number two, Novak Djokovic, in the second round of the Serbia Open.
The 26-year-old Romanian had a sloppy start to the game but recovered from the early slump with great mastery to register a win. His three double faults in the opener gave the advantage to his opponent to break into lead. Ungur
stung two serve breaks to fade away the advantage of Hidalgo in the game and displayed good tennis skills to drive the first set into the tie breaker round. The Romanian collapsed in the tie breaker and won just two points before Hidalgo closed out the opening
set at 7-6(2) to get into 1-0 lead in the competition.
Ungur avoided the silly mistakes he committed in the first set and exhibited magnificent error-free tennis to transfer pressure onto the Spaniard. Hidalgo broke the Romanian once in the second set but dropped his serve twice in
the process. Elegant stroke play from Ungur sealed the second set to his name at 6-3, levelling the contest with one set a piece.
The decisive third set went to the wire with the two contestants striving to get the better of one another. Hidalgo continued spilling out errors as Ungur stung a crucial serve break, which proved sufficient to bring victory for
the Romanian qualifier at 6-4. His win over the Spaniard books him a date with the hot favourite, top seed Novak Djokovic in the second round at Belgrade. Djokovic is unbeaten this year and received a bye to have a direct access to the second round of the
tournament.
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