Leonardo Mayer, Gianluca Naso make it to the quarterfinals – AON Open 2011 CH
Argentine tennis pro Leonardo Mayer secured an emphatic 6-4, 6-0 victory over German’s Mischa Zverev on Thursday to book his place in the last eight at 2011 AON Open Challengers tournament here in Genoa, Italy.
Unseeded at the Association of Tennis Professional tournament, Mayer has been in great form since the week has started. In his previous match he battled past Brit Dustin Brown in two tight sets. The 26-year-old looked in aggressive
mood as he required only 1 hour and 2 minutes dispatching his opponent.
Although Mayer made a slow start to the match, he was able to raise his game whenever required. Zverev ran hard to break his opponent but he was unsuccessful he couldn’t find any openings. Holding onto his service games, Mayer
put the rival under extreme pressure and he capitalised on his opponent’s unforced errors very efficiently.
Breaking the first serve for the first time in the match, Mayer took a very crucial 5-4 lead. He then closed out the set on his next service game as he took 1-0 set score lead.
Mayer capitalised on the momentum brilliantly in the second and finals as he made Zverev run for his money. Placing his forehand and backhand winners wide of his opponent, the Argentine secured some great points. But it was big
serves that won him the match the match at the end of the day as he secured 85 per cent of the points on hi first serve.
Breaking the serve at regular intervals, world number 139 put his opponent under immense pressure. Not dropping a single a game in the set, he completed his straight sets victory to advance into the next round of the competition.
Defeating a player ranked higher than him in the ATP rankings, Mayer will draw a lot of confidence from this win. He was delighted with the way he conducted himself in tense situations and he aimed for a similar performance in
his next match-up as well.
Meanwhile, number four seed Filippo Volandri crashed out of the AON Open after he had to retire from the match against compatriot Gianluca Naso. Naso was leading the 6-0, 4-1 when Volandri showed the white flag.
The Italian took some time out in the second set and after having a meeting with his personal trainer, he decided not to continue. He will be disappointed with the way his journey ended here in Genoa. But Volandri is a strong character
and he is expected to be back to his best very soon.
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