Alejandro Falla edges Potito Starace to reach the quarter-finals – Heineken Open 2012
Colombian Alejandro Falla stomped over Potito Starace of Italy with a 7-6(3), 6-3 score line at the Heineken Open 2012 on Wednesday. After earning this straight set victory over the 30-year-old Italian, Falla advanced into the final four of this ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 series event taking place in New Zealand, Auckland.
World number 80, Falla, made a shaky entry in the opening set and lost his serve in the right up. However, he re-devised his strategy to recover in the fourth game. Later, the Colombian maintained consistency in his game and not only dragged the set to a tie-breaker but dominated in it to pocket the opener with a 7-6(3) win.
Falla, ranked 24 levels below his opponent in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, stepped up his game in the second set and held his serve in the second game to level the scores at 1-1. After Starace held his serve in the fifth game, the Colombian went on a four games killing spree, eventually sealing the victory by winning six games to three.
After earning this success in 80 minutes, the 28-year-old Colombian extended his lead in the head-to-head series by 2-0 against Starace. They last duelled against each other at the 2011 Roland Garros, where Falla crushed the Italian with double breadsticks in the opening round.
The Colombian hasn’t had much progress at the ATP World Tour events last year; however, he recently grabbed a title at the Cali Challenger at his home soil (defeated Argentinean Eduardo Schwank in the final). He also made a fourth round showing at the French Open and made a final showdown at the Medellin Challenger. Despite making a drastic opening of 2012 in Brisbane (fell to third seed Alexandr Dolgopolov), Falla found his rhythm in this event and upset the seventh seed, Donald Young, in his opening round match.
Left-handed Falla will next face the winner of the match between the top seed and the defending titlist, David Ferrer and Czech competitor, Lukas Rosol.
Eighth seed Philipp Kohlschreiber will accompany the Colombian in the last four. He bounced over the 19-year-old Ryan Harrison in a three-set thriller to reach this spot. The German dusted away four out of seven breakpoints he came across and cashed in five out of eight break chances to his advantage, sealing the deal with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, score line.
Next up for the German seed is the winner of the match between second seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro and Colombian Santiago Giraldo.
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