Feliciano Lopez strains pass Fernando Gonzalez in the second round of the Serbia Open
World number 37 Feliciano Lopez of Spain clinched a straight, yet not so simple, sets victory against the Chilean wildcard, Fernando Gonzalez in the second round of the Serbia Open at Belgrade, Serbia on Wednesday afternoon. It
took 91 minutes for the Spanish competitor to conclude a hard-fought victory at 6-4, 7-6(4), stepping forward to the quarter-finals of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 tournament.
29-year-old Lopez finally ended his dreadful run against Gonzalez at Belgrade, defeating him for the first time in his career. The Chilean had been successful against Lopez on three previous occasions but the Spaniard registered
his 11thwin of the running ATP season to improve his head-to-head record to 1-3. Gonzalez was playing his first tournament of the season and appeared rusty. However, he hung in the contest till the end but lost the game in the second set tie breaker.
The in-form Spaniard reached his second consecutive quarter-final, as he reached the Barcelona quarter-finals last week. Lopez suffered just one serve break from his opponent in the entire match up, while striking two break points
en route to victory. He conceded four double faults, with Gonzalez following him with three.
The agile Spaniard took hold of the game early with a timely break point and kept pressurising his opponent with his accurate strokes. Lopez won all of the 18 first serve points in the opener and gave no room to the Chilean competitor
to craft a break point in the entire set. Gonzalez was equally good with his serve game but few minor errors on his part led him down in the first set.
Lopez kept consolidating his lead with his error-free tennis and served out of the opening set at 5-4. The Spaniard struck early in the following set as well but the agonised Chilean finally belted his first serve break of the
match to level the scores at 2-2. Lopez appeared a bit shaky in the second set and coughed three double faults to assist his opponent. The two men held their serves for the rest of the set and kept the score board ticking on even terms till 6-6.
A decisive tie breaker round was enforced, with the Spaniard rocketing away to the match point at 6-3. Gonzalez saved the first match point on Lopez’s serve but couldn’t hold much longer, as a fiery forehand winner from the Spanish
racquet sealed the contest at 7-6(4). Lopez will take on the fourth seeded compatriot, Albert Montanes in the quarter-final draws. Montanes was victorious against Michael Berrer of Germany in the second round of the competition.
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