Andre Miele knocks-out Guido Pella in final qualifying round – Sao Leopoldo Challenger 2011
Argentine Guido Pella, squared-off against the Brazilian, Andre Miele, in the last qualifying round of the Sao Leopoldo Challenger tournament, played in Brazil, on Sunday October 30th. The second meeting between the two helped the eighth seeded Miele to take his revenge of the earlier defeat in 2007 against the Argentine. The battle lasted for two hours and twenty-five minutes and ended up with a final score of 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in favour of the Brazilian.
Similar record in recent past with two defeats for both players in their last nine encounters ensured of an enthralling battle. Difference of 37 ranks between the two didn’t matter a lot as both players were on equal terms with their technique and shot making abilities.
Match started off as expected and the home boy took 2-1 lead in the initial three games by breaking once and holding on to his serve in the next game. Argentine couldn’t break his opponent’s serve throughout the game and trailed behind with two games as his opponent broke once again to confirm his first set triumph.
Eighth seeded struck two perfectly timed aces during the set and secured thirty-eight points compared to just twenty-seven of his opponent. Five opportunities were allotted for the 21-year-old Argentine to break his competitor’s serve but he couldn’t manage to clinch either of them that led to his downfall in the first set.
The second set was initially dominated by the home boy that struck two back-to-back aces in the first game and followed it up with inspiring winners in the second to break and take the lead of 2-0 upfront.
Pella clinched two break points in succession as he dominated the next four games and held on his serve to take the score to 3-2 in no time. The lead of one game was maintained till the end and score was pushed to 6-5 in favour of the visitor.
The last game was extremely close as the local boy earned an opportunity to break his opponent’s serve but couldn’t hang on with the advantage and lost the set. Victory for the visitor pushed the battle into the third set; crowd was enjoying while players were tiring.
The third set started off slowly and both players held on their serves for the first four games and turned the score 2-2. Surprisingly it was the visitor who broke first and took the lead but couldn’t hang on to it as his opponent broke his serve in the next to level the score to 3-3.
Miele broke again to take the lead and pushed the score to 6-5 in the meantime. Advantage was with the home boy who smashed an ace in the last game to finish it off in great fashion. Pella had his opportunity in the last set to break and enforce a tie-breaker but he couldn’t and finally lost it to the home boy.
Andre Miele moves into the first round of the tournament and faces his country mate, wildcard entrant, Guilherme Clezar.
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