Fernando Verdasco ousts Frederico Gil; strolls into the quarterfinal of the Estoril Open
Second seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco survived a late fight back by Portuguese Frederico Gil to win the match by 6-1, 7-6(5) score line on Thursday. He earned a breadstick to advance into the quarter-finals of the 2011 Estoril
Open, a clay court tournament held in Oeiras, Portugal.
The left handed Spaniard, who has dropped out of top ten to world number 15, lost five games in a row in the second set to let the Portuguese come back in game. He then dragged the set to tie-breaker where Verdasco eventually clinched
his straight sets victory in one hour and forty-three minutes.
Verdasco reached the final at San Jose before losing to Canadian Milos Raonic earlier this season. His form dipped afterwards and he reached this ATP World Tour 250 event with a three match losing streak. However, he re-formed
his strategy at Estoril Court Central and won ten out of first eleven games to lead by a set and 4-0.
In the opening set, the Spaniard was fully charged as he sealed the set by winning six games to Gil’s one. He had a slightly lower first serve share of 79 percent as opposed to Portuguese’s 81 percent and he registered an awesome
84 percent win on it. Verdasco saved the only breakpoint faced and converted two out of four breakpoint opportunities to his advantage to earn the breadstick.
He kept momentum rolling into the final set and unleashed flurry of groundstrokes to reel off first four games in a row. However, after this his confidence evaporated and his rival took full advantage of it by winning next five
games. Verdasco got his head back and held his remaining two serves to drag the set into the tiebreaker where he prevailed to clinch the set with a 7-6(5) win.
Gil, who became the first Portuguese to reach an ATP final here last year, displayed dismal performance. Although he clobbered only three double faults as compared to Verdasco’s seven and produced a slightly higher first serve
share, the Portuguese still couldn’t make any impact and eventually extended his losing record.
The Spaniard will next face seventh seed Kevin Anderson. The South African reached this spot by converting three out of five breakpoint opportunities to win against Victor Hanescu. He registered a straight set victory over Romanian
in one hour and twenty-five minutes later that day.
All the remaining seeds advanced in the day. Fourth seeded French Gilles Simon and fifth seeded Canadian Milos Raonic downed their opponents in straight sets to fill the last two quarter-final spots.
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