Horacio Zeballos rallies past Jan Hernych to enter main draw – US Men’s Clay Court Championship 2012
Second seed, Horacio Zeballos of Argentina, fought back from a deficit of one set to defeat world number 192, Jan Hernych of Czech Republic, 6-7(3), 6-3, 7-5 in the final qualifier at the US Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston
on Monday.
Ranked 117th in the world, Zeballos needed two hours and 46 minutes to post a tough win over Hernych.
Zeballos and Hernych were unable to break other’s serve throughout the first set, equalising the score at 6-6 and taking it to a tie-breaker. The Czech moved forward for a 3-0 lead and maintained it till the last point, capturing
it 7-6(3).
Hernych was sending explosive first serves in the opener, bombarding five aces and claiming 21 of the 25 points on the first deliveries. Zeballos fired four aces but he also committed four double faults compared to only one by
his opponent.
The Argentinean and Czech started by exchanging two breaks of serve in the first four games of the second set and levelled the score at 2-2. Zeballos struck again in the sixth and this time he consolidated on it to triumph 6-3.
The Buenos Aires, Argentina resident faced some difficulties on his serve, as he was unable to deliver any ace and hit a couple of double faults. However, the left-hander gave an extraordinary performance on the returns, converting
seven of the 13 first and seven of the 10 second ones into points.
Hernych started off quite brilliantly in the decider, as he grabbed first three games to build a 3-0 lead. However, the Czech could not sustain it till the end, losing his serve and evening out the score at 4-4. Zeballos hit the
decisive blow in the 11th game and capitalised on it to win 7-5.
The Argentinean banged in one ace and delivered the same number of double fault. The 26-year-old put away one of the two break threats he faced and converted both of his own chances in the final set.
Zeballos is pitted against Romanian, Adrian Ungur, in the opening match of the main round.
Meanwhile, the unseed, Go Soeda, got through to the main draw, as former world number two, Tommy Haas of Germany, withdrew from their final qualifier due to a right knee injury.
Haas, who claimed the title here in 2004, came to the court and warmed up for the match but then opted to forfeit it.
Soeda is slated to play compatriot, Tatsuma Ito, in the first round of the main draw.
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