Lukas Lacko outshines Alex Bogomolov in the second round – PBZ Zagreb Indoors 2012
Slovakian star, Lukas Lacko, shocked the second seeded Alex Bogomolov with a bagel at the PBZ Zagreb Indoors 2012 on Thursday. He formulated a 6-0, 6-7(1), 6-1 win over the 28-year-old Russian to book a spot in the last eight at this hard court tournament taking place in Zagreb, Croatia.
Lacko hammered massive forehands and backhands from his arsenal of skills to upset the Russian, 35th ranked at the South African Airways ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Rankings, in their first duel with each other. After an hour and 54-minutes marathon, he not only stunned the second seed but also moved a step closer to lift his maiden ATP career title.
The world number 97 went berserk in the opening set and stroke out the opening six games successively through his tremendous skills. He brushed off both breakpoints he came across and cashed in three out of five break opportunities.
The Slovak kept his winning ways into the following set and earned the desiderated break in the opening game. However, he stepped off gas after this.
Bogomolov on the other side took full advantage of this and snatched his break back in the sixth game. He maintained consistency in his game and dragged the set to a tie-breaker. The Russian found his rhythm in it and edged past Lacko with a 7-6(1) win.
Lacko sought the winning track again in the final set and went on a five games rampage before Bogomolov could hold on. The Slovak then held his serve once more and bagged a breadstick. He saved entire breakpoints he faced and cashed in both break chances.
The 24-year-old will next confront the Dutch number one, Robin Haase, who battled past the German contestant, Matthias Bachinger, in a mouth-watering three setter to reach this spot. Haase saved five out of nine breakpoints he encountered and broke the German’s serve four times, eventually sealing the deal with a 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-3 success on Wednesday.
Eighth seed, Ivo Karlovic, joined the Slovak later that day. He overpowered the Israeli ace, Dudi Sela, with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over 66 minutes. Meeting each other after four years, the Croat not only maintained his winning record in the FedEx ATP head2head series against Sela but also advanced into the last eight at his home ATP event.
Next up for the local star is the third seed Mikhail Youzhny who crushed Grega Zemlja with a breadstick to set-up this meeting.
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