Aljaz Bedene dumps Paolo Lorenzi from the coveted event – ATP Challenger Tour Finals 2012 CH
Fifth seeded Slovenian, Aljaz Bedene, posted a mind startling performance to stun the second seeded Italian contender, Paolo Lorenzi, in the Round Robin contest of the ATP Challenger Tour Finals event in Brazil. He took merely
80 minutes to register a 6-1, 6-3, victory against the superior-ranked opponent in the Yellow Group match on Thursday.
Lorenzi had won his opening match of the coveted season-ending finale against Gastao Elias to kick off in an excellent manner. However, his loss to Romania’s Victor Hanescu, in the second Round Robin match put her chances to qualify
for the semi-finals in jeopardy. It was a ‘must win’ situation for Lorenzi in the Thursday’s matchup against Bedene and he utterly failed to deliver his best tennis.
On the other hand, Bedene had a completely opposite start to the tournament, losing his opening match to Hanescu in straight sets. He made his comeback by winning his next encounter against Elias and like Lorenzi, must had to win
the Thursday’s battle to reach the next round of the tournament. The fifth seeded Slovenian came out firing at Lorenzi right from the beginning and cruised his way past him with commanding ease, eventually booking a place in the semi-finals.
Bedene took a positive start in the opening set, breaking his opponent twice in succession to impose a mammoth lead of 4-0. Lorenzi seemed baffled by a sudden onslaught from the inferior-ranked rival and couldn’t recover in time
to save the set. Another meaty blow from Bedene in the seventh game proved enough to crush the second seed’s confidence and the Slovenian bagged the opener with a breadstick.
He carried on his winning impetus in the following set and broke hot favourite Lorenzi in the second game, eventually holding his own serve to reach 3-0 right away. No more break points came from Bedene in the rest of the match
but Lorenzi also failed to register one. A conventional game was witnessed in the later part of the set and Bedene held his serve all the way to victory at 6-3.
Bedene will play against the sixth seeded in-form Romanian, Adrian Ungur, in the semi-final round of the tournament on Friday.
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