Alejandro Falla plonks Rajeev Ram to reach round two – Proton Malaysian Open 2012
Colombian challenger, Alejandro Falla, tumbled the American contender, Rajeev Ram, in straight sets at the Proton Malaysian Open 2012 on Wednesday. He recorded a 7-6(4), 4-2 retirement victory against the world number 93 to progress into the second round at this indoor hard court event taking place from 22nd to 30th September in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Bidding for his maiden career title, Falla showed brilliant skills to dominate at the Putra Indoor Stadium. The contestants last fought each other in Newport and after stealing this show in one hour and 22 minutes; the Colombian not only avenged his loss but also levelled the FedEx ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Head 2 Head Series against his fellow 28-year-old.
The left-handed Colombian made a convincing entry at this ATP World Tour 250 Series event. He drew the first blood in the seventh game and leaped to a 5-3 lead. Apart from levelling the scores in the 10th game, Falla remained calm and dragged the set to a tie-breaker. He jumped to a 4-2 lead in it before closing out the opener with a 7-6(4) win.
Ranked 61st in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Falla maintained consistency in his game in the following set. He smoothly swiped his entire serves without encountering any breakpoint. The Colombian cashed in the lone break chance in the sixth game and took a 4-2 lead. However, Ram suffered an injury after, ultimately rewarding Falla a second round spot.
Falla fired eight aces to stay in contention. He clobbered an equal first serve share of 60 per cent and impressively marked 26 out of 32 points on it. The Colombian coughed more double faults but ended the match with 63 points.
Falla will square off against the fourth seed, Alexandr Dolgopolov from Ukraine. The Ukrainian number one received a first round bye after being the top four players at this event.
The sixth seed, Pablo Andujar, faced a bitter reality later that day. He suffered a 3-6, 2-6 loss at the hands of the Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin in one hour and 13 minutes in their second outing.
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