David Ferrer hammers Rui Machado to book a berth in the second round – Australian Open 2012
Fifth seed, David Ferrer of Spain, faced limited resistance in his opening round match against the world number 70, Rui Machado of Portugal, on Tuesday. The one-sided encounter lasted for one hour and 44 minutes before the Spaniard
wrapped it up in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2, to charge into the second round of the Grand Slam Down Under.
Machado has been in sublime form throughout the 2011 ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour but failed to play his magic against the world number five player on Tuesday. Apart from some resilience shown in the
second set, the unseeded Portuguese utterly failed to pose any serious challenge to the Spaniard in the entire matchup.
Although Ferrer delivered just 59 per cent of his first serve on target, he pocketed 34 out of 40 first serve points on it to dispose of his opponent in style. The fifth seed crafted a total of nine break opportunities in the matchup
and cashed in seven of them en route to victory.
Machado was off to a sloppy start in the opening set and dropped his serve in the fourth game to trail 1-3. The Spaniard gained momentum from there and nailed another break point in the very next serve game to extend his lead to
5-1. He then served out of the first set convincingly with a breadstick at 6-1.
The Portuguese competitor registered his first serve break of the day in the second game of the following set to gain an early lead of 3-0. Machado held his serve in the next two games before his momentum was finally halted by
two crushing serve breaks from the world number five. Ferrer bagged the second set at 6-4 to inch even closer to a straight sets victory.
The Spaniard nailed two more break points in the third set, leaving nothing for Machado in the contest. The Portuguese eventually submitted the set to his superior opponent at 2-6, letting him into the second round of the tournament.
Ferrer will take on Ryan Sweeting of the United States in his next encounter of the Australian Open.
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