Guillermo Alcaide strains past Marco Chiudinelli in the opening round of the Status Athens Open
29-year-old Swiss veteran, Marco Chiudinelli failed to contain the sheer brilliance of Guillermo Alcaide in the first round matchup of the Status Athens Open at Athens, Greece on Tuesday. Alcaide toiled for two hours and four minutes
before he finally outplayed the Swiss in a three-set thriller 1-6, 7-6(11), 6-4, to eject him from the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour event.
The Spaniard displayed tremendous character and determination to bounce back from the verge of defeat in the contest. Alcaide dropped the opening set of the competition in a humiliating manner and faced four match points before
he made his epic comeback in the game to clinch victory. His splendid efforts were well praised by the local crowd at Athens as he snatched victory from the jaws of defeat to make it to the second round of the Status Athens Open.
The Swiss would have never thought of such a devastating turnaround in the game after he won the first set on an assertive note. Chiudinelli exhibited his brilliant tennis skills at the start of the competition but gradually lost
his steam in the later parts of the game to end on the losing side.
Most eminent feature of the game was 12 fiery aces from Alcaide. His first serve percentage of 49 was quite ordinary but he secured 37 out of 45 points on it, along with those thudding aces in the game. Very few serve breaks were
witnessed in the matchup, with Chiudinelli cracking in two and Alcaide following him with just one.
The opening set was an all-Swiss show, with Chiudinelli dominating in every minute of play. He won 100 per cent of his first serve points and stung two straight beak points to race to 6-1, getting one up in the contest. It appeared
as the Swiss will conclude his one-sided win in the second set but a terrific comeback from the Spaniard denied him from doing so. Alcaide banged seven cracking aces and nabbed 23 out of 25 points in the second set. No serve breaks were registered in the set,
enforcing a tie breaker round at 6-6. Alcaide displayed his magnificent tennis abilities to fight out four match points and take the extended tie breaker round at 7-6(11) to remain alive in the contest.
Alcaide carried on his winning momentum in the final set and made the most of his opportunities to seal his epic victory at 6-4. He will be facing the eighth seed Irish, Conor Niland in the second round of the Status Athens Open.
Niland outplayed Treat Conrad Huey, the qualifier from Philippines, in the opening round clash at Athens.
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