Alejandro Falla sinks Adrian Mannarino to advance to the quarter-finals at Delray Beach
Alejandro Falla of Columbia defeated his second round opponent Adrian Mannarino at the Delray Beach International Championships on Thursday night. Falla wrapped up the contest in 78 minutes, beating the Frenchman in straight sets
6-3, 6-2.
It turned out to be a one-sided contest as Falla cruised through the match with utmost ease. It was a low serve match with Falla having a first serve percentage of just 49. His opponent has a better figure of 63 percent but he
came out on the losing end.
The Columbian was more concerned with playing aggressive tennis rather than bettering his serve. He banged four aces in the match but committed three double-faults as well. Falla was brilliant on his return game and secured 18
out of 28 second return points.
Falla wasn’t brilliant on converting his break opportunities. The Columbian got 13 serve break chances during the whole match but merely converted five of them. He kept winning points on crucial occasions, exploiting the weaknesses
of his French opponent very well.
The opening set was an error-ridden one for the Frenchman. He coughed plenty of unforced errors in the first set, including two double faults. Although his opponent delivered 48 percent of his first serve on target, Mannarino merely
crafted two serve break chances in the set. He nabbed one chance but Falla denied him from the other break opportunity.
12 out of 18 second return points were won by Falla in the opener. His elegant cross-court stroke play was inspiring as he angled some excellent winners across the opponent’s court. The Columbian had eight chances to break the
rival’s serve but he availed only three of them. The 27-year-old sealed the opening set at 6-3 to lead the contest by one set to none.
Mannarino’s first serve was very impressive in the following set as he hit his marks with 70 percent accuracy. Although Falla’s first serve percentage was merely 50, he converted 80 percent of his total serve points.
The Columbian never faced a serve break in the second and got five opportunities to break the opponent’s serve. Mannarino hit the net a couple of times before Falla registered his first serve break. The Frenchman crumbled under
the pressure of defeat as his rival struck another serve break to take the game away from him. The second set ended with Falla winning the match at 6-2.
It proved to be an easy victory for Falla as he secured 71 out of total of 120 points in the whole match. His French opponent only took 49 of the points.
Falla will be facing the second seed American Mardy Fish in the quarter-final. Fish won his second round encounter against the Brazilian, Ricardo Mello, in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1 to advance to the quarter-final.
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