Joao Souza earns surprise victory over Pablo Andujar to advance into semis – Bet-At-Home Cup 2011
Brazilian qualifier Joao Souza upset eight seeded Spaniard Pablo Andujar in straight sets despite on a double duty at the Bet-At-Home Cup 2011, a clay court tournament held in Kitzbuhel, Austria. He registered a 6-3, 6-4 victory
over the 25-year-old Spaniard to advance into the last four on Thursday.
Ranked 110th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour rankings, Souza showed exceptional skills throughout the day. The Brazilian slew lucky loser, Argentinean Diego Junqueira in straight sets in the second round
match in morning and then continued his winning ways in the quarter-final to trash the Spaniard, ranked 64 places above him, in the evening. It was their first meeting and after the lower ranked earned this victory, he not only secured a semi-final spot but
also took lead in the head-to-head series by 1-0 against Andujar.
After Andujar held his opening serve in the second game, the qualifier took a leap after earning the first blood in the fourth game. Regardless of losing his edge in the seventh game, Souza broke again and held his serve in the
proceeding game to pocket the opener with a 6-3 score line.
He smashed six aces and sealed a higher first serve share of 56 percent as compared to Andujar’s 46 percent. Souza also registered a magnificent 80 percent win on it and despite failing to save the only breakpoint faced, he capitalised
on two out of five breakpoint opportunities to his advantage.
23-year-old Brazilian went berserk after Andujar held his serve in the opening game. He bombarded powerful groundstrokes to reel off next five games in a row before the Spaniard could hold on again. Although Souza lost his serve
in the eighth game, he kept his serve in the tenth game to seal the set by winning six games to four.
Souza failed to fend off only breakpoint faced but cashed in on both breakpoint chances to his advantage. He also clobbered a much better first serve share of 57 percent as compared to Spaniard’s 50 percent and earned a superb
94 percent win on it.
Up next for the Brazilian is the Dutch number one Robin Haase who was also on double duty. He upset second seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez after making an epic comeback from 6-1 down to seal the match with a 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 score
line in one hour and fifty-three minutes.
24-year-old Dutch kept his momentum sailing into the quarter-final match in evening and upset sixth seeded Italian Andreas Seppi in straight sets. Haase broke the Italian’s serve seven times to clinch the match with a 6-4, 6-2
victory.
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