Lukasz Kubot tumbles over Marius Copil to enter final eight – BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy 2012
Seventh seed, Lukasz Kubot of Poland, eased past the local wild card entrant, Marius Copil, in straight sets at the BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy 2012 on Thursday. He manipulated a 6-3, 6-3 victory against the 21-year-old to breeze
into the quarter-finals at this outdoor clay court event held in Bucharest, Romania.
The Polish veteran showed exceptional skills and abilities to outsmart Copil in 76 minutes. Facing each other for the first time, Kubot not only edged in the FedEx ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Head 2 Head series by
1-0 against the world number 258 but also booked a spot in the last eight at the BNR Arenas.
Kubot assertively entered this ATP World Tour 250 series event and held his serve in the second game to tie at 1-1. After Copil held his serve in the fifth game, the Pole went berserk and stroke out the last four games successively,
sealing the opener by winning six games to three.
Ranked 51st in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Kubot carried his rhythm in the proceeding set and held his opening serve to take the initial lead. He then maintained consistency in his game and continued
plucking remaining serves without facing any hindrance. The Pole got the breakthrough in the sixth game and clinched the set with a 6-3 score line.
All in all, the 29-year-old produced an equal first serve share of 67 per cent but impressively clicked 26 out of 32 points on it. He also hammered two aces and finished the match with 52 points.
The Polish veteran will square off against the top seed, Gilles Simon, who eased past Israeli’s Dudi Sela in straight sets to set-up this meeting. The world number 12 lost his serve once but capitalised on four out of six break
opportunities to manipulate a 6-4, 6-2 success.
The Italian star, Fabio Fognini, also earned the spotlight later that day. He upset the fifth seed, Marcos Baghdatis, in straight sets to progress. Fognini saved three out of eight breakpoints he encountered but broke six out of
14 break opportunities to register a 7-5, 7-6(4) score line.
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