Leonardo Mayer hammers Ricardo Mello in the quarter-final – Sao Leopoldo Challenger 2011
Fourth seed Argentine Leonardo Mayer hammered the fifth seed Ricardo Mello of Brazil in straight sets 6-2, 6-4 in the quarter-final of Sao Leopoldo Challenger tournament. On Friday November 4th, Argentine doubled his
head-to-head tally and cruised into the semi-final in just over an hour and eleven minutes.
World No.84, Mayer, had won in terrific form and had cruised into the quarters. His opponent was equally good with his track record in recent past and a perfect match was set up but ironically it turned out to be a one man show.
Instead of an epic three-setter it turned out to be a boring straight set match and left the crowd dejected.
Everything was so evenly poised; proximity of ranks, 1-1 head-to-head tally and brilliant recent form of both players hinted towards an eye-startling encounter. Brazilian had an advantage of playing in front of his crowd and familiar
conditions of indoor Sao Leopoldo clay courts but it was one of those days he would like to forget as soon as possible.
Visitor started in aggressive manner and won the first game along with another one with a break and carried the momentum into the next two games to take to the score to 4-0. Two consecutive breakpoints and an ace were one of the
highlights from the first four games.
Pin drop silence was experienced at the arena and no one moved an inch because they still had hope of a prolific comeback as Mello had done this before but his aging factor didn’t help him built any momentum.
Next four games were played in traditional manner and veteran did earned some consolation but that was not what crowd was expecting from him. They wanted a much improved and entertaining effort from their hero.
Brazilian started the second set on high note smashing an ace in the first game but couldn’t carried his momentum to break his opponent’s serve to take the initial advantage and place some pressure on Mayer.
Winner held his nerves and didn’t panic at all. He did the basics perfectly right and pushed the score to 2-2 with no drama at all. His consistent efforts throughout the game paid off in the form of a break in fifth game. Brazilian
had a slight lapse of concentration that was majestically capitalized by the visitor. He smashed a winner following a poor return from the local that went straight into the net. It was good enough to clinch him the most crucial break of the set.
Score was 4-2 when both players exchanged breaks in the next two games and pushed the score to 5-3 in visitor’s favour. Fifth seed Mello had to break in the ninth game to save the match but he couldn’t and lost his chance to qualify
for the semis.
Leonardo Mayer locks horns with top seed Rui Machado of Portugal in the semi-final.
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