Joao Sousa battles past Andreas Haider-Maurer into the semi-finals – Sibiu Challenger 2012
Third seed, Joao Sousa of Portugal, booked his place in the last-four stage by toppling the sixth seeded Austrian player, Andreas Haider-Maurer, in three sets 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 in the quarter-finals of the Sibiu Challenger in Romania
on Friday.
The Portuguese contestant required two hours and six minutes to overcome his rival in a tough contest.
Sousa and Haider-Maurer started the encounter by winning their opening serves to level the score at 1-1. It was an all-Sousa show afterwards, as he did not allow his Austrian opponent to claim even a single game, breaking him three
times to grab it 6-1.
The Portuguese participant hit 57 percent of the first serves and converted eight of the 12 of them into points. The 23-year-old was near flawless on the second returns, as he dropped only one point on them, claiming eight of the
nine in the opener.
Haider-Maurer raised the level of his game after getting thrashed in the first set and looked like a completely different player in the second. The Austrian hit a blow to Sousa in the very first game and held his following serve
to go up 2-0. Haider-Maurer struck again in the fifth and seventh game, sealing it 6-2.
The Austrian contender smacked a single ace and committed the same number of double fault in the second set. The 6ft 3in tall captured 10 of the 14 first serve points and utilised three of the five break opportunities he created.
Haider-Maurer started the decider from where had left in the second set, as he grabbed opening four games to race to a 4-0 advantage. However, Sousa made an amazing turn around after that, as he snatched six games in a row to clinch
it 6-4.
The Portuguese contestant made one double fault and lost seven of the 11 points on the second serves but he was the better player at crucial moments, as he converted three of the six break points he received and saved three of
the five he faced in the final set.
Sousa will either meet the top seed, Adrian Ungur, or Simone Vagnozzi in the semis.
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