Gastao Elias stuns Victor Hanescu in the Round Robin – ATP Challenger Tour Finals 2012 CH
Eighth seeded Portuguese contender, Gastao Elias, finally registered his first victory at the ATP Challenger Tour Finals on Thursday. He stunned the third seeded Romanian, Victor Hanescu, in the Round Robin contest of the Yellow
Group, winning the contest in three gruelling sets, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. Elias’ victory couldn’t restrict Hanescu from qualifying for the semi-final round of the Tour-ending grand finale.
Hanescu had won both of his opening Round Robin matches in an emphatic manner, defeating fifth seed Aljaz Bedene and the second seeded Italian, Paolo Lorenzi. He was hot favourite against the eighth seeded Elias, who had lost his
initial two matches in the tournament, but tables were turned on him with an impressive performance from the underdog. Hanescu was right on the track for winning the match when he claimed the opening set with ease. However, he tend to lose his steam in the
remaining sets of the match, letting Elias to come on top and he eventually registered the surprise victory.
Despite of a bleak first serve, Elias kept winning crucial points throughout the last two sets. He coughed seven double faults in the match but his three out of five break points proved to be the decisive factor in the match. He
took off the opening set in the traditional manner and held his serve in the initial six games to take the scores to 3-3. Hanescu finally found an opening in the eighth game and cashed in the vital break point to reach 5-3. He had no trouble in serving out
of the set at 5-3 and got 1-0 in the match.
The following set progressed in the similar manner to the first one, with no break points in the opening 11 games. It was Elias who nailed the critical break point in the 12th game this time to pocket the set at 7-5.
A more competitive decisive set was witnessed, with the eighth seeded Portuguese taking off with a 3-0 lead. Hanescu broke back in the sixth game, only to be broken in the very next game to fall back at 2-5. Elias finally concluded his win at 6-3.
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