Joao Sousa marches on after Denis Istomin retires in round two – Estoril Open 2012
World number 140, Joao Sousa, was leading the scores 3-6, 6-3, 4-2 in the second round of the Estoril Open on Thursday when his opponent from Uzbekistan, the 45th ranked Denis Istomin, decided to call it a day off and
pulled out of the contest due to a back injury.
Later, in an interview with the media representative the 25-year-old Uzbek stated, “During the match, I started to feel my back tightening. After the rain delay, it got worse and now I decided to stop the match, as it is better
for me in the future." The rain stopped the play for quite some time that also broke the momentum for the Uzbek and moreover sunk his health further.
The match kicked of brilliantly for the superior ranked Uzbek who broke serve in the second game and took a comfortable lead of 3-0 in the opening set. A slight cameo from his opponent diminished the lead for few minutes but Istomin
pounced back on him and regained the upper hand with another breakthrough. Both players held their respective serves in the last three games of the final set that was enough for the Uzbek to win the first battle.
Sousa didn’t panic and continue to work hard. He was rewarded very early in the second set with a breakthrough but squandered the lead in the fourth game. An exchange of breakpoints further pushed the scores to 4-3 before the Portuguese
local hero stunned everyone with another eye-startling breakthrough that consolidated his lead to 5-3. A tight serve hold at the end did the job for the local.
Uzbek visitor lost the opening game and a trade of breakpoints in the following two games gave a lead of 2-1 to the Portuguese who further enhanced it to 3-1 with a serve hold. However, the rain delayed the match and when they
resumed the play, just one game was played before the 45th ranked Uzbek decided to pull out of the competition after incurring a serious back injury.
It was an unfortunate event that destroyed the glory moment for the Portugese. Everyone was concerned about the health of Istomin who looked in a lot of pain during his departure from the arena. He looked in despair; never wanted
to end the contest that way but it was the order of the day.
Sousa is set to face the fourth seed Spaniard, Albert Ramos, in the quarter-final stage of the tournament.
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