Albert Ramos trounces Pere Riba to reach round two – Grand Prix Hassan II 2012
In an all-Spanish, seventh seeded Albert Ramos got the better of his compatriot, Pere Riba, in straight sets at the Grand Prix Hassan II 2012 on Tuesday. He penned down a 6-2, 6-3 victory against the world number 89 to secure a place in the second round
at this clay court event held in Casablanca, Morocco.
Ramos proved his class and overpowered his fellow citizen in one hour and 13 minutes. The stars met each other at the Bucharest ATP event last year and after bagging this match, the left-handed Spaniard improved to a 2-0 record in the FedEx ATP Head 2 Head
series against Riba.
52nd ranked Ramos flashed into the Complexe Al Amal and stroke out the opening four games in a row before his compatriot could hold on. The winning Spaniard then held his remaining serves with poise and sealed the opener by winning six games to
two. Ramos warded off both breakpoints he faced and converted two out of three break chances to his advantage.
The higher ranked Spaniard lost his track in the following set and after gifting away his opening serve, he fell at 0-3. However, he unleashed his skills after that and went on a six-game tear, ultimately clinching the set with a 6-3 score line. Ramos failed
to block the lone breakpoint he faced but capitalised on three out of five break opportunities to earn the limelight.
Overall, the Mataro resident manifested a better first serve share of 61 per cent as opposed to his compatriot’s 47 per cent and amazingly clicked 26 out of 31 points on it. He ruled throughout the match and finished it by earning 63 points.
Next in line for the seed is the Romanian challenger, Victor Hanescu, who earned a 6-2, 3-0 retirement victory against Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri in 52 minutes.
The sixth seed, Robin Haase, crashed out from the tournament later that. He suffered a 3-6, 2-6 defeat at the hands of the Algerian qualifier, Lamine Ouahab, in an hour. The Dutch number one lost his serve four times and cashed in only one out of two break
chances to exit from the tournament with disappointment.
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