David Ferrer overcomes Alexandr Dolgopolov to progress to Abierto Mexicano Telcel Final
David Ferrer of Spain fought back from a set down against Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine to win the semifinal at Acapulco today. Playing for a spot in the ATP World tour 500 event final, Ferrer took the reins firmly to win 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.
Both players are coming out of excellent Australian Open runs. Ferrer made it to the semis there this year, while the Ukrainian got to the quarters. Dolgopolov has been dominant in his matches this tournament while the Spaniard has been a little shaky. As
such, the contest was slated to be wide-open and that was exactly what fans witnessed before Dolgopolov’s collapse after the first set.
The match started off with average serving from the two players; Ferrer kept in 55 per cent of his first serves compared to Dolgopolov’s 43 per cent. He also converted more of his serves into points, winning 64 per cent of the points on his serve. 22-year-old
Dolgopolov managed to win 59 per cent of the points he served on. He secured two breaks of serve, which were enough to hand him the set.
The second set saw a different Ferrer entirely. Winning 86 per cent of the points on serve, he kept up the pressure from both ends of the court. His return game saw Dolgopolov yield 9 breaking opportunities, 3 of which were availed by the transformed top
seed. Racing to 6-1, the Spaniard leveled out the match in style.
The last set saw a similar display from the veteran clay courter. Ferrer created 7 chances to break and availed 2 of them to race ahead. His opponent did try to fight back; he even created 3 chances to break but to no avail. The Spaniard was in full flow
and would allow no challenges wrapping it up with a smooth 6-1.
Ferrer faces his compatriot Nicolas Almagro in the final. Almagro is trying to make history with his third title in the Golden Swing, but the top seed will try his best to stop the man in-form. Hopefully, he’ll do it in a manner that’s exciting to witness.
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