Joao Sousa jolts down Thiemo de Bakker in the quarter-finals – Peugeot Tennis Cup CH
Second seeded, Joao Sousa, prevailed over his Dutch contender, Thiemo de Bakker, in the quarter-finals of the Peugeot Tennis Cup 2012 held at the clay courts of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Portuguese challenger nudged forward and
jolted down a straight set thriller 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(4) win on the eve of Friday.
Ranked 99th in the ATP World Tour Rankings, Sousa, commenced the opening set displaying his superb skills and confidently drew the first blood. He cashed the initial serve break in the third game and stamped by 2-1 in
the third game. However, the lower ranked Dutch proved to be a tougher deal than expected, gradually he constructed his momentum and by the middle of the set consolidated a 4-3 lead. This stimulated Sousa and he continuously levelled the scores after every
alternate game. Until the 11th game, he dissolved his opponent’s serve and jumped forward to terminate the set with a 7-5 lead.
In the second set, the two held their initial serves and contested to give each other tough completion. This resulted in squaring down of the score line twice by the sixth game. The Dutch participant took a flying start and cashed
away his opponent’s only lone opportunity and stole the set with a 6-3 lead.
The 23-year-old had a lower initial serve of 52 percent with 11 of 15 first and seven of 14 second delivery points. In comparison to that, the Dutch exhibited his greater experience and fired six aces with a 61 percent serve precision.
He pocketed away 16 of 22 first and eight of 14 second serve points. He secured the lead by capitalizing on one of four serve breaks and Bakker was unable to win even one.
In the deciding set, the 24-year-old, Bakker, busted his higher ranked contender’s initial serve and stamped a 2-love lead. For the first part of the set, the Dutch dominated the game but he was unable to sustain his competitor’s
pressure. The win started to oscillate between the two and they two desperately wanted to pocket the win. Eventually, the Portuguese player jolted down his 7-6(4) after a tough tiebreaker round.
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