Guillermo Garcia-Lopez rallies past Rui Machado into the round of 64 – BNP Paribas Open 2012
World number 92, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain, outperformed world number 83 Rui Machado of Portugal in three sets 7-6(6), 4-6, 6-2 in the opening round at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, USA on Thursday. The Spaniard needed
two hours and 36 minutes to battle past Machado in a tough contest.
Machado made an instant breakthrough, winning Garcia-Lopez’ serve in the opening game of the match and holding his next to claim a 2-0 advantage. However, the Spaniard finished his opponent’s lead in the sixth, levelling the score
at 3-3. There was no break of serve in the next six games to equalise the score at 6-6, forcing a tie-breaker. Garcia-Lopez won two consecutive points in the end, sealing it 7-6(6).
The Spaniard fired a couple of aces but lost the advantage, as he hit the same number of double faults.
Garcia-Lopez and Machado exchanged two breaks of serve in the first six games of the second set and squared off the score at 3-3. The Portuguese grabbed his third in the tenth to clinch it 6-4.
Machado managed to bag the set even though his second serves were miserable. The Portuguese committed five double faults and claimed only one of the eight points on them. The reason behind this was that he played better than his
opponent on the points which mattered most, availing all the three of his break opportunities.
Garcia-Lopez looked a completely different player in the final set. The Spaniard grabbed first four games to race to a 4-0 lead. The 28-year-old capitalised on the double break. He did not lose any of his serve games to capture
the decider 6-2.
The Spaniard won nine of the 13 points on both of his first and second serves. Machado reduced his double fault to one but his second deliveries were still weak, losing five of the nine points on them. The Portuguese also failed
in winning the only break point he received in the third set.
Garcia-Lopez will lock horns with fourth seed, Andy Murray of Great Britain, in the second round. The Brit was awarded a bye in the opening round.
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