Alejandro Falla and Facundo Bagnis qualify for the second round of the Seguros Bolivar Open
Fourth seed Alejandro Falla of Colombia won his opening round match after a hard battle against Victor Estrella of Dominican Republic at the Seguros Bolívar Open at Barranquilla, Colombia on Wednesday night. The three-set thriller
took two hours and fifty three minutes to settle at 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, in favour of Falla.
Home favourite Falla had a brilliant start to the game, clinching the opening set in an assertive manner but dropping the next set to squander his early advantage. However, the Colombian held his nerve in the hard-fought decider
and eventually came out as the winner.
Falla secured 11 out of 14 first serve points in the first set and tend to pressurize Estrella right from the beginning. He dropped his serve once but compensated for it very well by stinging two break points and closing the opener
at 6-3.
A sudden downfall in Falla’s game was observed in the following set as he awarded two break points to his opponent and collected just 50 per cent total serve points. Despite of his ordinary first serve of 46 per cent, Estrella
manoeuvred his way through the second set to lead 5-3. A cracking ace from his racquet sealed the second set at 6-3, levelling the contest with one set a piece.
The decisive third set went on neck-to-neck as both players threw their best at each other to win the matchup. A critical serve break from Falla at 6-5 marked an end to Estrella’s voyage at Barranquilla, sending the Colombian in
to the next stage of the competition.
Falla will be playing against Facundo Bagnis in the second round to fight for a spot in the quarter-finals of the competition. Bagnis stood victorious against the Spanish wildcard Javier Marti, in straight sets 6-1, 7-5 in the
opening round match later on Wednesday night.
Bagnis’s 86 per cent first serve accuracy did the demolition job for him in the opener, as he secured 11 out of 12 first serve points and held his serve in all games. He had an aggressive approach towards the game and belted plenty
of cross-court winners to register three serve breaks. Bagnis amazingly collected 30 of 44 total points in the first set to reach 6-1 and get the upper hand in the game.
The Spaniard posed good resistance in the following set with his 76 per cent first serve and broke Bagnis in the fourth game. The Argentine kept on winning crucial points in the game and cracked in two serve breaks to ensure victory
for him at 7-5, moving on to meet Alejandro Falla in the next round of the competition.
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