Martin Alund flabbergasts fifth seed Joao Souza in second round – BVA Open 2011 CH
Argentine Martin Alund went head-to-head with Brazilian, Joao Souza, in the second round of the BVA Open Challenger tournament, played in Brazil, on Wednesday October 26th. The previous two encounters were won by the
Brazilian fifth seed but this time it was the Argentine that took the glory and halved the head-to-head lead of Souza. Argentine won the match in two hours and twenty-four minutes with a score of 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.
The Argentine had lost only three matches in his last nine encounters and was enjoying a good run of form at the court. The pressure of Souza’s superior rank, better game play and history with Alund made him the hot favourite to
win the match but the Argentine came with a clean mind and no pressure on him.
The form of the home boy was slightly poor compared to his opponent as he had lost four of his last nine games but there were so many other factors that favoured his triumph; especially the advantage of playing in front of your
own crowd is one of the biggest advantages in crucial nail-biting contests.
Surprisingly Argentine struck six aces in the first set compared to just one of his opponent and stretched the set by clinching an important breakpoint in the tenth game of the set. Things were levelled at five games apiece at
that moment and it could have gone either way as both players were extremely cautious and were making it difficult for their opponent to earn points.
Both players maintained an impressive first serve success rate of 77% (Alund) and 76% (Souza). 25-year-old, Alund, pocketed three breakpoints whilst his opponent could only clinch two. The difference of just two points for the
Argentine proved enough to seal the first set win and hint a possible upset.
The second set started off in great fashion for the fifth seed who completely bamboozled his opponent with his guile and precise shots. He maintained an impressive first and second serve percentage of 76% and 57% respectively and
broke his opponent’s serve to take the lead that was carried till the end of the second set. He won the set with a difference of just four points and pushed the match into the final set.
Stage was set for an epic third set and it lived up to the expectations until the first eight games when the score was tied at four games apiece. A crucial break from the Argentine flabbergasted the crowd as well his opponent who
failed to break back to save the match. Alund pocketed 29 points and thumped the fifth seed out of tournament with this win.
Martin Alund now faces-off against top seed Rui Machado in his next match.
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