Joao Souza rallies past Henri Laaksonen to reach the main draw – Suisse Open Gstaad 2011
23-year-old Brazilian, Joao Souza stood victorious in the final round of qualifying draws of Credit Agricole Suisse Open Gstaad, defeating Henri Laaksonen of Switzerland, on the clay courts of the Credit Agricole Arena in Gstaad,
Switzerland, on Sunday afternoon.
Seeded at number one in the qualifiers, Souza received a bye to the second round and cashed in his opportunity to access the main draws of the tournament by defeating Laaksonen in the third round. The Brazilian wrapped up victory
in straight sets, 7-6(5), 6-2, taking one hour and thirty one minutes of play to make it into the main round draws of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 tournament at Gstaad.
The 19-year-old local boy out up decent resistance in the opening set but was absolutely blown away by the belligerent Souza in the second set to end his voyage at the home tournament. Laaksonen failed to register any serve break
in the entire matchup and suffered two cracking ones from Souza in the second set to lose the game.
The opening set witnessed intense tennis from both contestants, with a number of assertive winners being exchanged between the two men. Souza clinched 20 out of 26 first serve points, while the Swiss followed him with 18 out of
25 points in the opening set. No serve breaks were seen in the opener, while Laaksonen squandered away two break opportunities in the 11th game.
The opening set went on even terms throughout, until the scores got dead locked at 6-6 to enforce a tie breaker round into play. Laaksonen secured five points in the decider but the brilliance of Souza was far too good for him,
as the Brazilian reeled off three consecutive points to bag the first set at 7-6(5), to get one up in the contest.
Laaksonen failed to pose any serious competition to the top seeded Brazilian in the following set and dropped his serve early to trail 1-3. Souza uplifted his serve accuracy to 70 per cent in the set and reeled off 12 out of 14
first serve points to inch closer to victory. A second serve break of the day in the seventh game proved decisive for the Brazilian, who sealed victory at 6-2 to get access to the main rounds of Credit Agricole Suisse Open Gstaad.
Souza will play his opening round match of the tournament against Frederico Gil of Portugal.
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