Horacio Zeballos surprises Martin Alund in the quarter-finals – Villa Allende Challenger 2012 CH
Second seeded, Horacio Zeballos, gave a straight-sets upset to his compatriot, Martin Alund, in the quarter-finals of the Copa Agco Cordoba 2012 held at the clay courts of Villa Allende, Argentina. He nudged up a 7-5, 6-3 victory
in nearly one hour and 34 minutes.
Ranked 125th in the ATP World Tour Rankings, Zeballos, displayed his superior game plan since the start of the opening set. He broke his opponent’s first serve and swiftly clinched the first three games and engraved
a 3-0 lead in the start of the set. Irrespective of Zeballos’ lead, the higher ranked Alund started to pick pace as the game progressed. He proved his potential when he broke his challenger’s serve in the seventh game and levelled down the score line to 4-all
in the very next game. After that point, the score then crossed down to 5-all in the 10th game. This aroused an alarming attack for Zeballos, who was confident of his success in the initial part. He jumped forward to break his rival’s serve in the
last game, terminating the set with a 7-5 lead.
The 27-year old, Zeballos, double faulted three times but was luck because he attained 67 percent initial serve, with 17 of 22 first and five of 11 second delivery points. The fifth seeded, Alund secured 55 percent initial serve
with 11 of 18 first and eight of 15 second serve points.
In the second set, the two participants held their serves but the 6 ft 2 inch, Zeballos, cashed the only break chance and marked his 4-2 lead. The 26-year-old, Alund, battled hard but he was unable to handle his rival’s pressure.
Zeballos took a flying start and closed the match with his 6-3 win.
The left-hander Argentinean maintained his lead by securing 69 percent first serve accuracy, with 17 of 22 first and six of 10 second delivery points. He capitalized on only one of the four serve breaks. The higher ranked, Alund,
exhibited 63 percent initial serve with 13 of 19 first and five of 11 second serve points.
In the next round, Zeballos will battle against the Spanish Javier Marti.
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