Inigo Cervantes snails past Henri Laaksonen to reach round one – Estoril Open 2012
Spaniard contestant, Inigo Cervantes, ended the cameo of the 20-year-old Swiss, Henri Laaksonen, to reach the main round of the Estoril Open on Monday. He defeated the Swiss contender in an epic three-setter, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2; battling for two hours and 14 minutes at the red clay courts of Portugal.
The opening set witnessed an early breakpoint for the Spaniard who gusted away to a lead of 4-1. However, his opponent limited his shots by replying well and continued his hunt to win the break back. Despite fighting hard and staying in the set, the Swiss contestant wasn’t able to break back and lost the opening set.
The Spaniard started the second round of play in emphatic fashion; winning the breakpoint in the opening game and leading the scores 2-0. However, the Swiss youngster bullied his way back into the contest, courtesy to some help from the net that wasted two classic returns from the Swiss.
Both players bagged serve games for the next five games and pushed the scores to 5-4 in favour of the Swiss. Cervantes was serving to stay in the set but suddenly he lost all the momentum and dropped four back-to-back points after smashing a cracking ace first up. He lost the set and the match entered into the final battle.
Laaksonen again dropped the opening serve game of the final set but repeated the similar performance to power his way back with a breakthrough in the fourth game. However, this time around the scenario was different; the Spaniard immediately stamped his authority and regained the lead with a breakthrough in the fifth game and doubled the lead with another thumping breakpoint in the following return game.
Cervantes didn’t make any mistake and bagged the final serve game to take the set and the match. It was a terrific performance from the Swiss youngster who showed immense courage to speed his way back into the match after a set and a break down. However, he wasn’t talented enough to handle the final set pressure and surrendered at the hands of the Spaniard. Cervantes stays in Portugal while the Swiss flies back tonight to his hometown.
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