Gianluca Naso surprises Frederico Gil in round of 16 – Tennislife Cup 2011 CH
A local wild card entrant, Gianluca Naso overpower the sixth seeded Portuguese Frederico Gil in troublesome three sets at the Tennislife Cup 2011, an ATP Challenger Tour event held on the red clay courts in Napoli, Italy. He earned
a 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-2 victory over the Lisboa native, Gil to reach the last eight on Thursday.
World number 245, Naso outmuscled the seed, ranked 144
spaces above him in the South African Airways ATP World Tour rankings, on their first meeting. After earning this two hour and forty-one minutes victory, the Italian booked final eight spot in this event.
Naso flashed into the opening set at Greenpark Posillipo and plucked in entire serves without facing any breakpoint. He then converted one out of three breakpoint opportunities in the fifth game to seal the opener by winning six
games to four. The Italian manifested a slightly lower first serve share of 62 percent as compared to Gil’s 67 percent but registered a fabulous 83 percent win on it.
He maintained his composure in the following set and held entire serves after fending off two breakpoints faced. Naso also hammered five aces and earned a spectacular 82 percent win on his first serve share. The Italian then spiced
up the set by finding two breakpoint opportunities but failed to convert any to his advantage.
The Portuguese on the other hand raised the level of his game and after fending off both breakpoints came across, he dragged the set to a tie-breaker. Gil dominated in it and clinched the equaliser with a 7-6(6) win.
24-year-old Naso dug his way back in the match. He faced zero breakpoint and capitalised on two out of three breakpoint opportunities to his advantage. The Italian unleashed his true colours and wiped out first three games in a
row before Portuguese could hold on. He broke again in the last game to bag the decider with a 6-2 score line.
He formulated a higher first serve share of 64 percent as compared to Naso’s 57 percent and earned a tremendous 79 percent win on it.
Naso will next face the German, Andreas Beck who trashed Italian qualifier Walter Trusendi in straight sets to reach this spot.
Beck required almost two hours registering a 6-4, 6-4 victory later that day. He saved two out of three breakpoint chances to his advantage and capitalised on three out of ten breakpoint chances to his advantage to win comfortably.
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