Igor Andreev dodges an upset against Paul Capdeville in the opening round – VTR Open 2012
Russian tennis starlet, Igor Andreev, bounced back a set down to oust the wildcard entrant, Paul Capdeville of Chile, to book a spot in the round two draw of the VTR Open – Vina del Mar. They fought for 62 minutes before
the Russian completed his first win against his opponent in their maiden professional contest. Final scores were 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in favour of the Russian.
It was a great battle between the two age fellows and the proximity of their ranking supported the fact. Andreev was stunned in the first few games by his competitor. He was completely down and out, failing to hold on to
his first serve game of the match. Sudden outbreak of the Chilean helped him bag the initial three games that included a vital breakthrough as well. The lead was held till the end of the set and the Russian starlet was forced to comeback from behind. Andreev
was trailing from one set but his motivation and enthusiasm never declined.
The second set started slowly; both players hanging on to their respective serves in the first three games before trading break points in the following two games. The two contestants held their serves in the next two games
to take the scores to 4-3 in favour of the Russian. Andreev desperately needed a breakpoint to exert some pressure on his opponent.
To his delight, Capdeville committed a crucial double-fault in the eighth game and the Russian fully capitalized on it with couple of mind-startling winners down the line; broke serve and earned a golden opportunity to level
the set scores. The Russian served for the set and successfully dragged the match into the third set.
A nervy start to the final set from both ends didn’t do any damage at either ends at both players successfully held their serves for the first eight games. Andreev took advantage of the pressure situation and improvised his
game play with some cunning manoeuvres. He slowed the tempo of the game to the level where Capdeville felt frustrated and committed several unforced errors.
It was becoming pretty ominous for the Chilean and his shots were landing outside the bounds of the court on most of the occasions, which doubled his frustration. Two back-to-back winners down the line and a perfectly placed
drop shot were enough for the Russian to break serve and exert more pressure on his rival. With a successful serve game, Andreev gobbled up the win and advanced to next stage of the tournament.
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