Kamil Capkovic rallies past Norbert Gombos into the quarter-finals – Karshi Challenger 2012
World number 245, Kamil Capkovic of Slovakia, survived the second set drubbing to beat his compatriot, Norbert Gombos, 7-6(9), 2-6, 6-2 in the second round of the Karshi Challenger in Uzbekistan on Wednesday. The higher ranked
Slovakian took two hours and 34 minutes to topple Gombos in a close match.
Capkovic and Gombos broke each other once in the first four games of the opening set, squaring off the score at 2-2. They did not allow each other to strike again till the end, taking the score to 6-6 and forcing a tie-breaker.
There was an intense fight between both these players, going neck to neck till 9-9. Capkovic grabbed two points in a row afterwards to triumph 7-6(9).
The Slovakian bombarded four aces but committed even higher number of double faults at six. The right-hander maintained a first serve percentage of 61 and claimed 20 of the 31 points on them in the opener.
After losing the first set with the closest of margins, Gombos hit a blow to Capkovic in the very first game of the second and consolidated on it to gain a 2-0 advantage. Gombos grabbed second breakthrough in the fifth and made
the most of it to win 6-2.
The 22-year-old smacked four aces and made one double fault in the second set. He had a decent conversion rate, pocketing 10 of the 14 first and nine of the 11 second serve points.
It was looking like Gombos will seal the match quickly, as he nailed a break in the third game of the decider to take a 2-1 lead but the Slovakian failed to win even a single one later on, getting broken three times to drop it
2-6.
Capkovic fired a couple of aces and committed four double faults in the final set. The 6ft 6in tall inflicted most of the damage on his opponent with the help of powerful first serves and second returns, bagging nine of the 11
points on them respectively.
The Slovakian contest is pitted against China’s Di Wu at the last-eight stage. Wu beat Riccardo Bellotti in the round of 16.
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