Joao Souza bounces back from set down to beat Augusto Laranja in first round – BVA Open 2011 CH
Two Brazilians, Augusto Laranja and Joao Souza, locked horns with each other in the first round of the BVA Open Challenger tournament, played in Brazil, on Monday October 24th. The first encounter between the two tennis
ace from Brazilian lasted almost two hours and ended with the triumph for the fifth seed Souza who won bounced back after a set down to clinch the victory with a final score of 4-6, 6-3, 6-0.
The teenager, Laranja, had consecutively lost five of his previous encounters and was in pretty bad shape at the start of the match. It was a total mismatch on paper; World No.813 up against the World No.105. The experienced Brazilian
had also lost five of his last nine games but two of those matches were played at bigger stages like China Open and US Open so comparatively Souza was better than the teenager on all platforms.
Five aces were scored in the first set; three for loser and two for the winner. The teenager dominated the set and took the lead in the fourth game by breaking his opponent’s serve which was maintained throughout the set. He registered
an impressive 74% first serves success rate and coupled it with another inspiring conversion rate of 56% on his second serve.
The youngster looked set to pull up another upset of the tournament but Souza had other plans. Trailing one set down, the experienced player composed himself and organised himself to make a comeback.
The second display from the experienced lad was totally opposite of the first set. He struck three aces and converted 67% and 75% of his first and second serves into winning points. Crowd loved every bit of the contest and were
thrilled after an exciting comeback from their tennis icon.
Fifty six points were played in the second set and 23-year-old clinched 55% of the total points played and poised the game with one set apiece. The impressive start from the teenager was hampered with this exciting comeback and
the length of the sets tired the 19-year-old who looked fatigued at the end of second set.
Fatigue from the two sets prevented the Brazilian teenager from playing his natural game and corner to corner play from his opponent killed the leftover stamina. An enthralling 88% first serve success rate and 75% breakpoint conversion
rate from the experienced fifth seed hammered the teenager’s confidence who couldn’t manage to win a single game in the last set.
The triumph against Augusto Laranja helps the fifth seed Joao Souza to confirm his place in the second round match; he will be up against the Argentine player, Martin Alund. Alund pulled up an upset in the first round match and
looks set to make his mark.
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