Aljaz Bedene battles past Albert Ramos in second round of Barletta Open 2011 – Tennis news
Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia fought back strongly against Spaniard Albert Ramos on Wednesday to reach the second round of the Barletta Open 2011 in Italy.
The Slovak won the hard-fought match in three sets, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5.
Ramos dominated the first set and made the challenger run for his money. He broke the serve twice to take the set 6-2. The Spaniard looked full of energy and ran all around the court to save points. He executed his game plan quite well early on.
The second set changed the picture of the match quite dramatically. Ramos, who looked to be in complete control in the opening set, suddenly lost the plot. He made several forehand and backhand errors and allowed his opponent to come back into the
contest. Bedene made him pay heavily by breaking the serve and then holding on to his serve games to level the set score 1-1.
Both contestants played with a never-say-die attitude and created plenty of match-winning opportunities in the final set. However, Bedene held his nerves and made the crucial serve break in the eighth game of the set to secure a deserving victory after
2 hours and 14 minutes of play.
Ranked 488th in the world, Bedene looked a bit out of sorts early on but raised his game when it was required the most. He hit the ball cleanly and successfully executed the drop shorts to surprise his opponent. His serve was
supreme and it won him crucial points. The 21-year-old fired 5 aces and converted nearly 70 per cent of the points on the first serve. Bedene scored 5 out of 6 break points in the match.
Since he turned professional in 2008, Bedene has bagged significant victories in his career. He announced himself at the international circuit in a great style winning five ITF Futures Tournaments in 2009. However, in the last 12 months or so, he struggled
to find his top form and was ousted from several events. He will be hoping for a strong run at the US $42,000 Barletta Open. A win over a higher ranked player than himself will certainly help his cause.
On the other hand, Ramos looked disappointed at his shock defeat. He dominated the first half an hour but lost his grip after making several unforced errors.
The Spaniard, who is ranked 111 in the ATP world rankings, failed to justify his talent and crashed out of the tournament.
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