Horacio Zeballos rallies past Maxime Authom into the quarter-finals – ATP Roller Open 2012
Seeded sixth in the draw, Horacio Zeballos of Argentina, bounced back after losing the first set to down the world number 178 from Belgium, Maxime Authom, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the second round of the ATP Roller Open in Petange, Luxembourg
on Wednesday.
The Argentinean took one hour and 56 minutes to claim victory in a close encounter.
Zeballos and Authom started by winning their opening serve to square off the score at 1-1. The Belgian player stung a break in the third game and consolidated on it to go up 3-1. Authom did not lose his serve and sustained his
lead throughout to close it 6-4.
The 25-year-old smacked one ace and committed a couple of double faults in the opener. Authom had a very low first serve percentage of 43, converting 12 of the 16 of them into points. The Belgian evaded the one break threat he
came across and utilised one of the two opportunities he created for himself.
Second set was started in a far more stable manner than the first one, as both players held their serve in the first seven games to take the score to 4-3 in favour of Zeballos. The Argentinean hit a blow to Authom in the eighth
and capitalised on that opportunity to seal it 6-3.
Zeballos pounded four aces and did not make any double fault, maintaining a first serve percentage of 67 and sealing 17 of the 22 points on them. The Argentinean had no answer for his rival’s attacking first deliveries, as he lost
eight of the 10 points on them but balanced that by capturing seven of the 14 ones on the second ones.
Carrying the winning momentum into the decider, Zeballos grabbed a breakthrough in the opening game and won his subsequent serve to attain a 2-0 lead. The Argentinean hit another blow to Authom in the seventh and made the most
of his double advantage to close it 6-2.
Zeballos was unstoppable on his serves, as he bombarded six aces on his opponent and captured 13 of the 14 points on the first deliveries. The Argentinean also did well on the second serves and returns, claiming four of the seven
and seven of the 11 points on them in the final set.
The Buenos Aires, Argentina resident will lock horns with the second seed, Jurgen Zopp of Estonia, for a place in the semi-finals.
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