Leonardo Mayer dodges Guilherme Clezar in the second round - Sao Leopoldo Challenger 2011
Fourth seed, Leonardo Mayer of Argentina faced a very tough time against the Brazilian wildcard entrant, Guilherme Clezar, in the second round of Sao Leopoldo Challenger tournament. Match was contested on Thursday November 3rd
in the outdoor clay courts of Sao Leopoldo, Brazil. After a fierce battle of almost three hours, fourth seed Argentine clinched the win by 6-4, 6(6)-7, 7-6(7).
Mismatch on the paper turned out to be a perfect match at the pitch. First encounter between the two players would be remembered for a long period of time as it was one of the best matches in the history of this tournament. Both
players received a standing ovation at the end of the encounter.
Local boy kicked-off proceedings with a win in the first game which was countered by his opponent by the win in the second game and score moved to 2-1 in similar fashion. First breakthrough came when the local broke his rival’s
serve and to the delight of the crowd showed some aggression.
Mayer replied in the next game with a ballistic forehand to break Brazilian’s serve and silenced the crowd completely; score was 2-3 in favour of Brazilian. It was made 3-3 by the visitor who kept his calm.
Second breakthrough favoured the visitor who broke his competitor’s serve to take lead of 4-3 and built some momentum towards the end of the set. Despite some chanting and roars from the crowd in favour of their Clezar, he couldn’t
break again to keep the set alive and lost the first set.
Thrilling contest between the two continued and once again Brazilian started the proceedings and scoreboard was kept ticking in traditional fashion as both players held on to their serves; score reach 3-3 without much drama apart
from a double-fault from the Brazilian.
Next two games were classic example of the proximity of style of play as both players exchanged breaks and kept the score closely tight at 4-4. Without much mystery and tragedy for either of players, score moved to 6-6 and tie-breaker
was enforced to decide the set.
Nail-biting contest ended with a marvellous comeback for the Brazilian who held his nerve and clinched the most important point of the match to keep his quarter-final hopes alive.
Both players were tiring but none was ready to give it up and were ready to fight their hearts out till the end. First two games were held by respective players but Brazilian came on top in the third to break his competitor’s serve
and hint a possible upset; score was 2-1 at that stage.
Mayer handled the pressure brilliantly and played every shot on his merit; he waited for the opportunity to bash onto his opponent and he got one in the sixth game when Clezar double-faulted to give advantage to his opponent which
was capitalized by the visitor; set was evenly poised at 3-3.
Score was pushed to 6-6 with no further dramas and tie-breaker was enforced for the second time in succession. The match was last on two points as Mayer smashed a beautifully placed ace and coupled it with an aggressive forehand.
Both players were dead tired and received a round of applause for putting such a scintillating show for the viewers.
Leonardo Mayer meets another Brazilian, Ricardo Mello, in the quarter-final of the tournament.
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