Franco Skugor upsets Alex Bogomolov Jr. to advance at US Men’s Clay Court Championship
6th seeded Croat, Franco Skugor, bounced back against the top seeded American, Alex Bogomolov Jr, to win with a breadstick at the US Men’s Clay Court Championship.
He registered a 2-6, 6-1, 6-4 win over the American to advance to the main draw at Houston on Monday.
The Croat, who is currently at his career high rank of 149, displayed tremendous skill to triumph over, Bogomolov Jr, in a three set thriller in 1 hour and 51 minutes.
The American was at the top of his form in the opening set as he held his serves superbly. He had a much better first serve share of 85 percent, as compared to Croat’s, 57 percent, and he registered an impressive 70 percent win on serve.
In addition to this, Bogomolov Junior saved all breakpoints and converted two out of four breakpoint opportunities to his advantage to win the set with a 6-2 score line.
The 27-year-old American, who had a magnificent season and won the title at Dallas Challenger after defeating 4th seeded German Rainer Schuettler, also had a much better return point winning share to cruise to second set win convincingly.
However, the 23-year old Croat was a different person in the second set and re-formed his strategy. He still had a lower first serve share of 65 percent as opposed to American’s 79 percent but he earned an amazing 80 percent win on serve.
Skugor also smacked two aces, and saved the only breakpoint against his serve. He played his best tennis and conceded just one game, and, broke Bogomolov Jr’s serve twice to win the equalizer with an awesome 6-1 score line.
The match went on to the decisive set where both gave their best. Skugor had an acceptable first serve share of 67 percent, which was slightly higher than his rival’s 67 percent. He also earned a convincing 67 percent win on it and the Croat was able to
break Alex Bogomolov’s serve three times through his awesome tact.
Though Skugor lost only two of his serves due to the American’s massive forehands, he eventually clinched the set with a 6-4 win because of the extra break he earned.
He will next face Japan’s, Kei Nishikori, in the first round of this ATP World Tour 250 event.
Nishikori has a 49-21 win-loss record for the past 12 months. He is in good shape as he made a semi-final berth at Delray Beach and a quarter-final berth at Chennai before losing to 6th seeded Serb, Janko Tipsarevic, on both occasions.
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