Joao Souza outmuscles injured Dusan Lajovic to enter quarters – Serbia Open 2012
Brazilian tennis star, Joao Souza, registered a 4-2 retirement victory against the local wild card entrant, Dusan Lajovic, at the Serbia Open 2012, an ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 series event held in Belgrade. As a result, the
23-year-old booked a place in the final eight on Wednesday.
The Rio de Janeiro native remained focused throughout the match and was leading 4-2 when his wild card opponent was forced to pull out from the professional tennis due to a right ankle injury. After this 31-minute battle, Souza assertively entered the quarter-finals
at this clay court.
The 21-year-old thundered into the SRPC Milan Gale Muskatirovic and drew the first blood in the second game to leap to a 2-0 lead. Regardless of twisting his ankle after that, he continued hitting groundstrokes.
Ranked 116th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Souza took full advantage of the situation and went on a four-game tear to take the upper hand. However, the Serb felt severe pain after that and failed to continue the match,
rewarding the last eight spot to Souza.
Summing up the Brazilian’s performance in this incomplete match, Souza manifested a better first serve share of 81 per cent as opposed to his rival’s 50 per cent and amazingly clicked seven out of 13 points on it. The enthusiastic Brazilian failed to save
the lone breakpoint he faced but converted two out of three break opportunities to his advantage.
Souza will confront the fourth seed, David Nalbandian of Argentina. The seeded Argentinean was broken down once but cashed in four out of nine break chances to formulate a 6-4, 6-3 score line against Slovenia’s Aljaz Bedene.
The eight seed, Gilles Muller, also stole the show later that day. He fended off late resistance to outclass the Argentinean qualifier, Eduardo Schwank, in straight sets in their first encounter. The Luxembourgian ace dusted away three out of four breakpoints
he came across and capitalised on both break opportunities to manipulate a 6-3, 7-6(0) success in one hour and 34 minutes. He produced a poor first serve share but brilliantly clicked 30 out of 35 points on it to earn the fame.
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