Fernando Gonzalez bows out to Mahut in his last tennis match at Sony Ericsson Open – Tennis Special
Former world number five, Fernando Gonzalez, was underplayed by the French contestant, Nicolas Mahut, in his last career match at the Sony Ericsson Open 2012 on Wednesday night. He suffered a 5-7, 6-4, 6-7(3) shock against the
30-year-old in the opening round at this ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Masters 1000 event taking place at Key Biscayne in Miami, Florida.
Gonzalez’s forehand was finally quietened after he endured two hours and 37-minutes defeat in his final career match at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park. After the match, ATP executive President Brad Drewett and Sony Ericsson
Open director Adam Barrett presented the Chilean a commemorative frame. He also received farewell video tribute from the top-four tennis players including along with Bryan Brothers and David Nalbandian.
"At the end, the video was great. It's not only about tennis. It's also about friends," Gonzalez was quoted "I mean, we've been playing against each other many times, but at the end of the day we are friends. We're really far away
from Chile, and there were little flags. There was my family here. I had a lot of friends, and I really enjoyed the moment."
Currently ranked 221st in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Gonzalez made a strong start in the Floridian hard courts and drew the first blood in the third game to take the initial lead. However, he
lost his track afterwards and gifted away the opener. The Chilean recovered in the seventh game but lost his serve again in the last game to bear a 5-7 defeat.
The 31-year-old rebounded in the proceeding set and got the desiderated break in the third game to eventually go 3-1 up. Despite levelling the scores at 4-4, the Chilean capitalised on another break chance in the ninth game and
pulled out the equaliser by winning six games to four.
Gonzalez assertively entered the final set and smoothly bagged his entire serves. He spectacularly brushed off two match points at 4-5 15-40 before enforcing a tie-breaker. However, the Chilean went 1-4 down before edging out in
it, ultimately enduring a 6-7(3) defeat.
"I saved a couple of match points," said the Chilean veteran. "I had my chances. But Nicolas played better in the important moments, and I was a little bit tired at the end."
The Chilean sought 14 break opportunities and cashed in four of them. He also spectacularly availed 44 out of 66 points on his first serve share and spilled fewer errors.
Gonzalez, who is famous for smashing rackets, showed his top class performance at the 2004 Athens Olympics where he grabbed the Gold medal with Nicolas Massu in doubles event and captured a bronze medal in the singles event. He
also claimed a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and finished a runner-up to Roger Federer at the Australian Open 2007. The Chilean had shelved 11 ATP career titles and made final showdowns in two ATP World Tour Masters 1000 clay court event held in
Madrid and Rome.
Mahut on the other side of net will confront the seventh seed, Tomas Berdych, in the second round.
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