Frederico Gil breezes past Yuri Schukin into second round – Tennislife Cup 2011 CH
Sixth seeded Portuguese Frederico Gil dumped Kazakh Yuri Schukin in straight sets at the 2011 Tennislife Cup, an ATP Challenger Tour event held on the outdoor clay courts in Napoli, Italy from 24th September to 2nd
October. He registered a 6-2, 6-3 victory over the 32-year-old Kazakh to secure a second round spot on Monday.
Ranked 101st in the South African Airways ATP World Tour rankings, Gil put up a solid display of tennis to crush the Kazakh, ranked 100 spots below him, in straight sets on their second meeting. After earning this one
hour and twenty-six minutes success, the Portuguese booked a second round spot at this event.
The Lisboa native, Gil made a disappointing start on the Italian court and bleed early on in the opening game to trail 0-1. However, he snatched the break back in the proceeding game and eventually levelled the scores till 2-2.
After this, the Portuguese went on savage mode and wiped out last four games in a row to clinch the set with a 6-2 win.
He displayed flawless performance as he saved all three breakpoints faced and cashed in on both breakpoint opportunities to his advantage. Gil then put the cherry on the set by hitting an ace and by clobbering a higher first serve
share of 68 percent as compared to his rival’s 56 percent.
26-year-old Portuguese kept momentum rolling into the final set. He maintained his composure to pluck in entire serves. Gil required only a single breakpoint opportunity and which he duly converted to his advantage in the eighth
game to seal the set by winning six games to three. He formulated a much better first serve share of 70 percent as opposed to Schukin’s 59 percent and registered a spectacular 84 percent win on it.
Gil will square off against a local wild card entrant Gianluca Naso who warded off late resistance to earn a straight set victory against his compatriot, Alessio Di Mauro. 24-year-old Naso saved two out of four breakpoints came
across and capitalised on four out of thirteen breakpoint opportunities to his advantage. By doing so, he sealed the deal in two hours and nine minutes and advanced into the next round.
The only other seed, Diego Junqueira who played on Monday, faced a different fate. The fifth seeded Argentinean was one set up but ran out of gas in the remaining match. He eventually exited Napoli with disappointed after losing
in his opening round match.
Tags: