Daniel Gimeno-Traver takes down Conor Niland in 1st round – San Sebastian Challenger 2011
Spanish tennis pro Daniel Gimeno-Traver managed to overcome Conor Niland 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday to make it to the second round of 2011 International San Sebastian Challenger Series in San Sebastian, Spain. Although Traver made
a very shaky start to the match, he was able to regroup himself on time to seal an emphatic victory.
Making a comeback from a set deficit, Gimeno-Traver displayed amazing temperament and fighting skills in a match that lasted for more than 2 hour and 6 minutes on the red clay courts of San Sebastian.
Conor Niland made first impression in the match as he broke the serve early in the opening set to take control of things. Looking to stay in the set, Gimeno-Traver also up his game play and he played some great tennis. The Spaniard
held on to his following serve games to take the game score to 4-5, requiring a break of serve to stay in the set.
Niland, however, showed no signs of nerves on his next service game as he clinched three straight points to bag the opener 1-0.
Looking down and out, Gimeno-Traver required one of his best performances to come back into the match. The Spaniard showed positive intent and competed hard for every available point. Breaking his opponent twice in the second set,
Gimeno-Traver earned an impassable 5-2 lead. Although Niland broke back once to stay in the set, he couldn’t stop his opponent from forcing the match into a decider.
Smashing a lovely forehand winner down the line, Gimeno-Traver made two set available to him and then converted the first one to even the set score 1-1.
The contestants put up a great fight in the final set as some highly competitive tennis was seen. Both players broke each other twice as the match entered a very exciting phase with the game score tied at 4-4. Gimeno-Traver used
the psychological advantage to great extent as he broke his opponent to take a crucial 5-4 lead, serving for the match. Executing a well disguised drop shot; he set up two match points for himself and then pocketed the first one to close out the match.
Gimeno-Traver’s accurate and on-target serves played a crucial par in his victory as he converted an incredible 80 per cent of the points on his first serve. Saving four out of eight break points in the match, he had a rock solid
defence. Ranked 94thin the world, Gimeno-Traver will be hoping to continue his decent form to make it to the final stages of the tournament.
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