Andreas Seppi dodges Stanislas Wawrinka to reach the quarters - Internazionali BNL d'Italia 2012
World number 30, Andreas Seppi, stunned the 20th ranked Swiss, Stanislas Wawrinka, in the third round of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, contested in Rome. It was an epic three-setter lasting almost three hours and
21 minutes. Crowd witnessed a comeback from a set down from the Italian tennis ace to register the scores of 6-7(1), 7-6(6), 7-6(6).
No match has gone to its length in this tournament except this one. Both players were facing off for the 12th time in their professional careers and the Swiss lead the head-to-head series to 7-4 at the start of the match.
However, the tables were turned upon him by his luck in the final set that helped the 28-year-old Seppi to qualify for the quarter-finals of the tournament. It was a world class matchup that had everything it for the spectators.
Both players capitalized n their serves without much pressure from their competitors. First six games passed by without much drama and the scores pushed to 3-3. However, the deadlock was broken by the inferior ranked Italian who
bagged the first breakthrough of the match.
He pushed the scores to 5-4 in the meantime and just needed to hold serve to take the set but a confident display from the Swiss kept the set alive; courtesy a breakthrough. No more breakthroughs enforced the tie-breaker round
into play. Wawrinka sneaked an early mini-break and built upon the lead to take the first set under the nose of his rival.
The second witnessed a taxing battle as both players tested their rivals on their serves and in the process exchanged breakpoints in the starting stages of the set. Scores moved on to 3-3 and despite strong resistance from both
competitors on their rival’s serve, no more breakpoints were witnessed in the rest of the set that enforced the second tie-breaker round into play.
This time, the Italian walked out of the set as a winner after a tight battle in the tie-breaker. Stage was set for another epic battle and ironically, the two un-seeded players provided the best entertainment for the crowd.
A nervy start to the third set witnessed a swap of breakpoints at the start coupled with another breakthrough for the Swiss who took the lead of 4-2. However two games later, the Italian bounced back into the contest with a breakthrough
and levelled the scores to 5-5 with a serve hold.
An enthralling battle entered to its third and final tie-breaker round. Seppi edged it again in the same fashion as he did earlier and booked a date with the Swiss Maestro, Roger Federer, for the next round clash.
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