Franco Skugor upsets Teymuraz Gabashvili in the quarter-final of the Seguros Bolivar Open
World number 164, Franco Skugor of Croatia, beat top seed Teymuraz Gabashvili in the quarter-final of the Seguros Bolivar Open at San Jose, Costa Rica on Friday night. The eighth seed Croat defeated the tournament favourite Gabashvili
in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, in one hour and sixteen minutes to register his third victory of the running year.
The Croatian took Gabashvili by surprise and edged past him to book a berth in the semi-final of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour event at San Jose. Skugor carried on his brilliant form at the Seguros
Bolivar Open, winning all his matches assertively, without dropping a set to his opponents en route to the semi-final.
The contest was equally poised but a slightly more aggressive approach from Skugor resulted in his victory over the Russian. Although the Croat fell behind Gabashvili in some segments of the game, he bagged crucial break points
which proved to be the critical success factor for him. Skugor’s 61 per cent first serve was powerful than his opponent’s 68, but his baseline defence proved far solid than the Russian’s. The Croat successfully saved the only break opportunity Gabashvili crafted
in the contest and belted two break points to dominate his opponent.
Gabashvili was quick to start off the opener and served with an astounding 79 per cent accuracy to bag 18 out of 23 first serve points. Skugor lagged behind the Russian in both of these segments but excelled over Gabashvili in
the return game and number of errors conceded.
The Russian coughed three costly double faults, providing opportunity to Skugor to sting a serve break to lead 5-4 in the set. The Croat clinched 30 out of 58 total points in the game, with Gabashvili taking 28 of them. Skugor
served out of the first set at 6-4 convincingly to get the upper hand in the contest with one set to none.
The top seed dropped his game in the next set, winning just 67 per cent of the first serve points and bestowing his opponent with two break chances. Skugor nabbed the first break point to lead 4-2 in the second set and consolidated
his position with good error-free tennis. He collected 21 out of 27 total serve points and 57 per cent of the total points being played in the match to edge past his opponent. The Croat denied Gabashvili a break point and served out the match at 6-4.
Skugor will take on Giovanni Lapentti in the semi-finals of the Seguros Bolivar Open to get a shot at the ATP Challenger title. Lapentti ousted the unseeded Irish, Louk Sorensen 6-4, 6-3, in the quarter-final matchup to meet Skugor
in the round of four.
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