Juan-Pablo Brzezicki snails past Andre Ghem into last four – Sao Leopoldo Challenger 2011
Juan-Pablo Brzezicki of Argentina was tested to limits by Brazilian Andre Ghem before he crawled into the semi-final of Sao Leopoldo Challenger tournament. On Friday November 4th, both players locked horns and pulled
up a majestic three-setter that lasted for almost three hours and ended up with a score of 7-6(2), 6(0)-7, 4-6.
Argentine started the proceedings with flying colours having broken his opponent’s serve in the first game and taking 2-0 lead upfront. The momentum was settled by the Brazilian and both players continued to hold their serves till
the score was pushed to 4-3. It was becoming increasingly important for the Brazilian to break once in order to bring the score on level terms.
It was the eighth game of the first set when spectators had their wishes fulfilled in the form of the break for their local boy and score was tied at 4-4. In the meantime both players had struck couple of aces and showed some terrific
display of all-round shots that excited the crowd.
It was one of the most entertaining quarter-final and didn’t disappoint the crowd for a second. Both players continued to hold their serves and score moved to 6-6 without further drama. Tie-breaker was enforced to decide the set
between the two players. They met blow to blow till the end after a very close battle it was the local hero that clinched the first set win and delighted the home crowd.
It seemed like Brazilian would bring a change to his head-to-head score and get off the mark. Second set started in conventional manner and first six games were played with utmost concentration to make sure no player get any benefit
over the other.
Finally a breakthrough came in the seventh game when visitor broke his opponent’s serve once again to take the lead and moved the score card to 3-4 in his favour. After two games Brazilian fought back and broke his rival’s serve
to inch one step closer to the semi-final. Another tie-breaker was introduces as the score moved to 6-6 for the second time in succession.
Argentine showed great power and completely dominated the tie-breaker and kept his hopes alive and inch a step closer to his fifth consecutive victory over Ghem. Brzezicki carried his exciting run of form into the third set and
broke his rival’s serve to take the initial lead that proved to be the set as well as match winner.
Brazilian couldn’t break his rival’s serve throughout the third set, hence, lost his way to his first win against Brzezicki. Juan-Pablo Brzezicki places a berth into the semi-finals and squares against the Serbian, Nikola Ciric.
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