Andreas Seppi bounces over Renzo Olivo in opening round – AON Open 2012
Top seed Andreas Seppi made an epic comeback to trounce the Argentinean qualifier, Renzo Olivo, in a three-set nail-biter at the AON Open 2012 on Wednesday. He summed up a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory against the world number 330 to power into the second round
at this ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour event taking place in Genoa, Italy.
The local wild card recipient unveiled his true colours to outsmart Olivo in just above two hours. Facing each other for the first time, Seppi cruised into the round of 16 despite losing the opening set at this clay court event.
The underdog made a strong start at the Italian dirt. He suffered the first blow in the opening game to trail at 0-1. However, Olivo quickly recovered in the very next game and remained calm to keep his following serves. He got the breakthrough in the sixth
game and eventually sealed the opener by winning six games to three.
Seppi found his rhythm in the proceeding set despite losing his serve in the third game. He snatched his break back in the very next game and got the upper hand. The Italian capitalised on another break chance in the eighth game and clinched the equaliser
with a 6-3 score line.
Ranked 27th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Seppi kept momentum flowing in the final set. He broke the Argentinean’s serve twice and jumped to a 4-1 lead. In spite of squandering his serve in the sixth game, the Italian plucked
his remaining serves and bagged the decider with a 6-4 win.
All in all, the 28-year-old fired six aces and clobbered a better first serve share of 57 per cent as opposed to his rival’s 49 per cent. He also amazingly marked 35 out of 46 points on it and finished the match with 94 points.
Up next for the top seed is another Argentinean challenger, Facundo Arguello, who dumped Austria’s Michael Linzer in straight sets to set up this match. He was broken twice but capitalised on four out of nine break opportunities to earn the spotlight.
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