Marco Chiudinelli struggles past Conor Niland in the opening round – Open Castilla y Leon 2011 CH
Unseeded Swiss competitor, Marco Chiudinelli stood victorious against Conor Niland of Ireland in the opening round clash of Open Castilla y Leon, on Tuesday afternoon.
The competition is a part of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour hard-court swing and is played in Segovia, Spain. Chiudinelli took two hours and thirty eight minutes to wrap up victory in three sets 6-4,
2-6, 7-5, to make it into the second round of the tournament.
It was an evenly poised contest with both men toiling hard to take the better of one another. The Swiss took the opening set with ease but Niland brought the twist in the game by bagging the following set in the most authoritative
manner. The game was pushed into the third set, which also went on neck-to-neck before Chiudinelli cracked in a vital serve break in the last moments of the match to come out as the winner.
Not many differences were witnessed in the overall statics of the two players in the contest but it was only the proficiency of Chiudinelli to bag points on crucial moments in the game which proved to be the decisive factor in
the matchup. The opening set took off with an early trade of serve breaks from both contestants in the opening two games, followed by a regular game to take the scores to 4-4. Chiudinelli collected 14, while the Irish secured 11 first serve points in the first
set to keep the upper hand in the game.
A break point from the Swiss in proved critical in the game and closed out the opening set for him at 6-4 to get him one up in the contest. Tide turned in the following set when Niland fired two serve breaks to race past his opponent
to 6-2, levelling the matchup at one set a piece.
The final set of the match was stuffed with high quality tennis action, with a series of serve breaks from both men. The two contestants exchanged two break points each in consecutive games to take the scores to 5-5 and it appeared
as if the set is heading towards a tie breaker. A timely break point conversion from Chiudinelli sealed victory for him at 7-5, sending him into the second round of Open Castilla y Leon.
Chiudinelli will face the winner of the match between the top seed Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan and Portugal’s Joao Souza in the second round of the event.
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