Andre Ghem sweeps away Maximo Gonzalez in the second round
– Sao Leopoldo Challenger 2011
Argentine Maximo Gonzalez was stunned by Andre Ghem of Brazil in the second round of the Sao Leopoldo Challenger tournament, hosted in Brazil, on Wednesday, November 2nd. The match lasted for an hour and forty-eight
minutes with a score of 7-6(7), 6-4.
It was the second encounter between the two and surprisingly inferior ranked Brazilian led the head-to-head tally by 1-0. Both players were in fine form having won majority of their encounters in recent past. It was the full house
and everyone was supporting their local participant to pull up an exciting show and repeat the heroics of 2007 match between the two contenders.
Score doesn’t do justice to the Argentine who played much better than what is reflected in the score because he deserved to extend the match by enforcing the third set and open up his chances to advance to next round.
First set was an epic thriller that encapsulated every aspect of the game. It started off slowly and both players held their serves to build up the momentum. The turning point in the match came in the fifth set when Argentine broke
his opponent’s serve for the first time and moved the score to 3-2 in his favour.
Gonzales couldn’t hang on to capitalize on his break; Ghem broke his serve in the next game and levelled the score at 3-3. Score was further pushed to 5-5 and in the meantime Brazilian delighted the crowd with his amazing first
and only ace of the set.
Pressure was on both players to hang on to their serves but Argentine double-faulted and lost the game. Instead of capitalizing on this shortcoming of his rival, Brazilian double-faulted as well and helped his rival to break his
serve. Score was 6-6 at that stage and tie-breaker was enforced to decide the set.
Last set was close till the end; if the Argentine didn’t slipped at the second last point, it might have extended further. Unfortunately the visitor was unlucky and lost the set. Trailing one set down, Argentine could sense an
upset and accumulated more pressure on himself.
Second set kicked-off with a break; Ghem broke his opponent’s serve but again couldn’t capitalize and lost the next game. Both players then composed themselves and met blow to blow of each other. The see-saw score line continued
for the first eight games and score was perfectly poised at 4-4.
Argentine silenced the crowed for the moment by striking a fierce ace in the ninth game but his rival came back and won three consecutive points with his accurately placed backhands. Local player struck two aces in succession in
the next game and sealed the second set in convincing manner.
Andre Ghem moves into the quarter finals and plays against Argentine Juan Pablo-Brzezicki in his next match.
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