Alejandro Gonzalez drops out in quarters; Carlos Salamanca moves ahead – Bogota Challenger 2011
Friday saw the continuation of the quarter-final round matches at the Seguros Bolivar Open Bogota 2011. The event has its importance for the Columbian sports organization as they have complimented this tour with the memories of
the Protagonists. The tournament is being held at the city of Bogota, Columbia. All of the matches were being played on classic clay.
The quarter-final played between Carlos Salamanca and Alejandro Gonzalez came to a predictable end. The two Columbians clashed in a 3 setter match for the third time in their head to head history. Carlos, ranked world No.175, had
the perfect position for the match as he had a 2-0 head on lead against the young 22-year-old Alejandro. Previously they had played each other in Columbia F3 and Columbia F2 and coincidentally both times they clashed in quarter-finals.
Carlos had also kept his records straight as he had won 7 out of the last 10 matches he played. However, the world No.325 gave his best but could not succeed in winning the third time. The major factor in Alejandro’s loss is that
Carlos is a much superior player. Despite the rankings, the 28-year-old world No.175 has a good reputation on clay.
The match between the two countrymen started with a cheer by the home fans as they had the perfect match to see. The young 22-year-old opened up the first set as the crowd gave a Mexican Wave to start off the match. However, it
seemed more of a one sided match as the world No.172, Carlos gave the young boy a severe beating from the start. Winning the first 4 games including 2 breakpoints, Carlos dominated the first set 4-0. The young star finally won a game and a breakpoint in the
next to move the scores to 4-2. Alejandro also won the next game on his serve but that was it. Carlos showed his perfection to win the next and the last two games of the set to take the lead in the match 1-0.
The next set went off with Carlos serving first. With a close call he opened the score card for the second set 1-0. Alejandro Gonzalez made it level in the next game as he stood eyeballing his countryman. Teacher his fellow competitor
like a child, Carlos easily won two straight games to make it 3-1 after game 13. However, the beating did not finish so easily. The 22 year old had to face 3 more games of misery until Carlos celebrated his victory to the semis 6-3, 6-1.
The easy cake for the Columbian has increased his head-to-head record against Gonzalez as well as his winning streak in the Bogota Challenger; as he now moves into the semi-final round. Carlos will now be facing Izak Van Der Merwe
for a spot in the finals.
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