Leonardo Mayer crashes Juan Carlos Ferrero in the opening round – Brasil Open 2012
Leonardo Mayer, the 80th ranked Argentine, trounced over the 43rd ranked Spaniard, Juan Carlos Ferrero, in the opening round clash of the Brasil Open. He booked a berth in next round with straight sets triumph
7-6(6), 6-2. The contest lasted for an hour and 52 minutes.
The Spaniard veteran was the sixth seeded contestant in the tournament and left the stage too early for his likings. However, the scores didn’t do justice to the 32-years-old veteran who played well in the opening set. A slight
slice of luck for the Spaniard, at the end of the first set, could have enlightened his chances to advance into the next round.
It was a neck-to-neck battle between the two contenders. They started off in stylish fashion; capitalizing on their serves and not allowing any opportunity whatsoever to their rivals to have a go at them. Scores kept ticking over
with both players holding on to their respective serve games. Ferrero was under the cosh in the fourth game but survived the pressure situation to register a successful serve hold.
Mayer was pushed on the back foot in the eighth game but he did well to stay in the contest and kept the scores moving. There were no breakpoints won by either of the two contestants in the opening set that led to tie-breaker round.
It was expected that Ferrero will sneak ahead of his opponent in this crunch situation with a lot of experience under his belt but Mayer utilized his guile to oust Ferrero.
Trailing one set down, Ferrero gave a half-hearted effort in the second set; losing the opening serve game and gifting a vital breakthrough upfront that exerted immense pressure on him. Mayer consolidated the scores with a 2-0
lead and kept on hammering his opponent to all corners. He broke Ferrero’s serve in the fifth game that gave him an unassailable lead of three games; marking the scores at 4-1.
It was getting pretty ominous for the Spaniard and his tiring legs were worsening his condition. He was trailing 1-5 down by the end of the sixth game. It was just a matter of time before Mayer registered a critical upset in the
tournament opening round and cruised into the next stage.
Leonardo Mayer will be up against the French tennis ace, Jeremy Chardy, in the second round. Chardy is one of the four successful players who progressed into the main round from the qualifying stages of the tournament.
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