David Nalbandian tumbles over Joao Souza to reach semis – Serbia Open 2012
Fourth seed, David Nalbandian, eased past the Brazilian contender, Joao Souza, in straight sets at the Serbia Open 2012. He penned down a 6-3, 6-2 victory against the Brazilian youngster to inch towards his 12th ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals)
career title at the SRPC Milan Gale Muskatirovic in Belgrade.
The seeded Argentinean capitalised on four out of five break opportunities to pocket this match in their first meeting. After outshining his opponent in one hour and 12 minutes, Nalbandian not only edged in the FedEx ATP Head 2 Head series by 1-0 against
the Brazilian but also booked a spot in the final four.
Nalbandian thundered into this ATP World Tour 250 series event and drew the first blood in the second game to leap to a 3-0 lead. Apart from losing his edge in the fifth game, the Argentinean carved out the victory with a 6-3 score line after cashing in
another break chance in the eighth game.
Ranked 49th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour rankings, Nalbandian maintained his intensity in the follow-up set and earned the critical break in the opening game to take the initial lead. He then held entire serves and capitalised on
another break chance in the fifth game to pull out the set with a 6-2 score line.
All in all, the 30-year-old jolted down a poor first serve share of 45 per cent as opposed to Souza’s 70 per cent but exceptionally clicked 17 out of 23 points on it. She also amazingly brushed off three out of four breakpoints she came across.
Up next for Nalbandian is the second seed, Andreas Seppi of Italy. He dumped eighth seeded Gilles Muller in straight sets to secure this spot. The Italian star smoothly held his entire serves and capitalised on three out of five break chances to earn the
glory.
The top seed, Pablo Andujar, also stole the show later that day. He stomped over Czech Republic’s Lukas Rosol in straight sets in one hour and 26 minutes. The Spaniard lost his serve once but capitalised on four out of 13 break chances to formulate a 6-4,
6-3 success.
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