Juan Monaco beats Victor Hanescu to give Argentina 2-0 lead over Romania in Davis Cup
Home favourite Juan Monaco defeated the Romanian competitor Victor Hanescu in the first round of the Davis Cup on Friday. The Argentine overcame his opponent in a four-set rubber 7-6(5), 1-6, 6-1 and 6-1 in two hours and fifty minutes to lead his country
2-0 in the contest.
World number 33 Monaco lived up to the expectations of the local crowd, winning the second rubber of the first day of the Davis cup. It was a long awaited victory for the 26-year-old Argentine, giving a vital lead to his country in the contest.
“I feel very happy for my win,” said the winner after the match, “I knew it was going to be very difficult. It was a very long day, but a happy one.”
Hanescu had a better serve accuracy than his opponent but the Romanian failed to clinch most of his points. A total of 200 points were played, with Monaco winning 112 and Hanescu bagging 88. The Argentine cashed in most of his break opportunities in the
game and converted five out of six break points in the game.
Both men failed to register a serve break in the opener. A routine game took the scores to 6-6, enforcing a tie breaker. Monaco won the opening set in the tie breaker round at 7-6(5).
Monaco lost his steam in the following set, failing to answer Hanescu’s powerful serve. The Argentine’s serve dropped to 53 per cent and could merely win 5 out of 17 return points. Hanescu broke Monaco’s serve thrice in the set to get the impassable lead
of 5-1 in the second set. The dismayed local crowd lost its voice as Hanescu served out of the second set at 6-1, levelling the match at 1-1.
“I lost my focus, but then I came back in the third, broke twice and finally won the match”, Monaco told the press reporters later.
The Argentine bounced back strongly in the third set, breaking the opponent’s serve to get in the early lead of 3-1. Monaco executed some elegant cross-court strokes to pressurize the Romanian, who started committing unforced errors on regularity. Monaco
cracked two more serve breaks to seal the third set at 6-1.
The 26-year-old carried his winning momentum in the fourth set. Monaco kept the set short and professional. He belted a total of 13 winners in the set, along with two break points, to ensure victory at 6-1.
The Argentines will be aiming to white-wash the Romanian opponents on Saturday by winning the doubles match. Juan Ignacio Chela and Eduardo Schwank will represent Argentina, taking on the Romanian duo of Hanescu and Horia Tecau. The Argentine pair is a former
Wimbledon semi-finalist but they have to keep their eyes open for Hanescu and Tecau, who recently won the doubles title at Acapulco.
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