Juan Monaco slashes Igor Andreev to progress into round three – VTR Open 2012
Argentine superstar, Juan Monaco butchered the Russian tennis ace, Igor Andreev, in straight sets 6-2, 6-1 during the second round battle of VTR Open-Vina del Mar. On Thursday, both players locked horns on clay courts; top
seed Argentine sealed the win in 75 minutes, sparing just three games for his opponent and booking a third round spot in the tournament.
Both players are well experienced and contested against one another for seven different times including this match. The Argentine comprehensively leads the head-to-head scores with 5-2 and looks more threatening than ever.
A considerable number of people turned out to witness this battle in the expectation that the Russian will put up a good show this time but they were left dejected by a one-sided show from the top seed.
Both players started of f the contest with an exchange of break points upfront. Andreev looked threatening at that stage but Monaco settled into the atmosphere soon and marshalled the proceedings at his will. The Russian
was under the cosh in his second serve game but he managed to sneak through with a cheeky point and saved a breakpoint.
Monaco continued to dominate the proceedings and continued to hammer his opponent; smashed an ace in the fifth game to hold the serve as the scores progressed to 3-2 in his favour. A dismal run of play from Andreev absolutely
dismantled his confidence and he miserably lost a game on his serve. It was a vital breakthrough at that stage and the top seed wasted little time in mounting on the lead as well as the pressure on his opponent.
By the end of the seventh game, scores were 5-2 in favour of the Argentine. Andreev tried to hold on to his serve in the last game of the first set but his shots were not finding the sweet part of the racquet at all. Another
successful breakpoint conversion for the Argentine earned him a lead of one set and clearly shattered his confidence level.
Top seed Argentine ran away with a one-sided show in the second set sparing just one game for his opponent and breaking three times in succession. Monaco started the proceedings with a successful serve and carried on the
momentum with a blistering display of all-round shots especially those majestic winners down the line. His serve was broken once in the fifth game but that was just a consolation for his opponent as he cruised past him winning six of the seven games in the
set. This performance will definitely boost his morale and pump his enthusiasm to win the title.
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