Andreas Seppi prevails over Carlos Berlocq to advance to the last eight – AEGON International 2012
Italy’s Andres Seppi, seeded third in the draw, survived a scare in the opener to oust the world number 37, Carlos Berlocq of Argentina, in straight sets 7-6(2), 6-3 in the second round at the AEGON International in Eastbourne
on Wednesday.
Seppi and Berlocq held their serve in the first five games to take the score to 3-2 in favour of the former. The Italian struck in the sixth and consolidated on it to go up 5-2. Berlocq made a great fight back and captured three
successive games to level it at 5-5. Both players won their following serves to take the score to 6-6 and forced a tie-breaker. Seppi played aggressively in the tie-breaker and allowed the Argentinean to win just a couple of points, closing it 7-6(2).
The Italian fired a couple of aces and 57 percent of the first serves in the opener, converting 16 of the 21 of them into points. The 26th ranked also performed quite well on the second deliveries and returns, as he
pocketed nine of the 16 and 11 of the 24 points on them respectively. In comparison, Berlocq banged in four aces but committed the same number of double faults. The Argentinean converted the only break point he received but failed to save one of the four he
faced.
Both players, once again, made a stable start in the second set, as they did not lose their serve in the first six games and evened out the scores at 3-3. However, it was an all-Seppi show afterwards, as he broke the Argentinean
in the seventh and ninth game, clinching three in a row and closing it 6-3.
The Italian banged in two aces and also made equal number of double faults. He had a below average first serve percentage of 50 but succeeded in claiming 10 of the 12 points on them. The right-hander converted both break opportunities
he created in the second set.
Seppi required just an hour and 27 minutes to score this win over Berlocq.
The Italian will meet the seventh seed, Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany, in the quarter-finals.
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