Andrej Martin bombshells Horacio Zeballos in opening round melee – IPP Open 2011 CH
Ranked world No.336 and Slovakian, Andrej Martin, won a surprising match, opening round fixture of IPP Open 2011, on Monday, 21stNovember, as he played the former world No.41, Horacio Zeballos, ousting the Argentine,
6-2, 6-7(2), 6-4, in a long two hour 19 minutes hard indoor circuit match at Tali, Helsinki, Finland.
With the match on its way, the two took their sides with Zeballos opening up the match saving a near breakpoint, 1-0. Martin followed the higher ranked Argentine and stormed away double game point winner evening up the scores,
at 1-1.
The scoreboard took another turn as Martin broke the higher ranked Argentine in game three, 2-1, and followed with a spectacular triple game point win on his serve in game four to lead the score care, 3-1. The 26-year-old world
No.111 did cut the lead bagging game five, 3-2, however, that was the last of his wins in the set.
Serving out game six, 4-2, the 22-year-old Slovak hampered the higher ranked Argentine with a serve-break-serve concluding the set 6-2 and led the match.
However, the fixture still had a turning point when Zeballos nicked away a set two in a crucial tiebreak. Levelling up at 1-1, the two broke each other in game three and four to even up again at 2-2. Winning a game each both levelled
up at 3-3 before they repeatedly broke each other to level up again at 4-4.
With scores at 5-5, the two finally ended up in a crucial tiebreak set with Zeballos to serve first. The Argentine played the tiebreaker comparatively better as he did not lose more than two points and took away the tiebreaker
with ease winning the set, 7-6(2) levelling up the match scores, 1-1.
Moving onto the decider set, the match boiled up as Martin was broken down instantly by the Argentine, 0-1. Zeballos took advantage and extended his lead to two straight games. Pulling back, Martin scored his first win of the set
and switched the serve.
Argentine was looking strong when Martin smashed game seven, 3-4, and broke the higher ranked Argentine in game eight after eight deuces. With a startling recovery, Slovak 22-year-old blew away game nine with a triple game point
winner and finished off the set with a double breakpoint win, 6-4, and won the match with a marvellous performance.
Through into the second round of the ATP Challenger Tour event, Martin’s mouth opening performance has now made it difficult for other players to win easy. Watching the former world No.41 beaten to the ground by the 22-year-old
Slovakian was surely show stopper.
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