Joao Sousa upset Marsel Ilhan to reach quarters – Rai Open 2012
Portuguese contender, Joao Sousa, stunned the seventh seed, Marsel Ilhan, in a three set nail-biter at the Rai Open 2012 on Wednesday. He summed up a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(0) victory against the world number 129 to secure a place in the final eight at this ATP (Association
of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour event taking place in Rome, Italy.
Sousa stayed focused throughout the two hours and 33-minute venture and consequently carved out the victory in their first meeting. As a result, the Portuguese rising star comfortably powered into the quarter-finals at this €30,000 Challenger event.
The Uzbekistan-born Ilhan stepped on the Italian red clay courts with poise and after breaking his rival’s serve twice, he leaped at 4-1. Regardless of losing his serve in sixth game, the Turk plucked his remaining serves and sealed the opener by winning
six games to four.
The 23-year-old rebounded in the second set and apart from suffering the first blow in the third game, he pulled out the equaliser with a 6-3 score line. Sousa recovered in the fourth game but lost his serve again in the very next game, eventually trailing
at 2-3. However, the Portuguese blasted powerful forehands after that and wiped out the proceeding four games in a row.
Sousa kept momentum rolling into the final set and earned the critical break in the fifth game to leap at 4-2. However, he lost his focus after that and squared the scores at 5-5 after gifting away his serve. The set went to the tie-breaker where the Portuguese
went out of control and clinched the decider with a 7-6(0) score line.
Ranked 146th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Sousa will next confront the winner of the match between third seeded Rui Machado and the Kazakhstani tennis star, Andrey Golubev.
The tournament’s top seed, Ernests Gulbis, crashed out from the tournament in the opening round on Tuesday. He suffered a 4-6, 2-6 shock at the hands of the German veteran, Simon Greul, in one hour and 11 minutes. The Latvian coughed more double faults and
warded off only two out of six breakpoints he faced.
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