Martin Vassallo Arguello and Flavio Cipolla made it to the second round of the Seguros Bolivar Open
Argentine qualifier Martin Vassallo Arguello made a huge upset by defeating the top seed Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia in the second round of the Seguros Bolivar Open at Barranquilla, Colombia on Thursday night. Arguello wrapped
up his straight sets victory at 6-1, 7-6(3), taking one hour and fifty seven minutes of play to reach the quarter-finals of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour event.
The 31-year-old Argentine veteran faced Gabashvili for the first time in Challenger Tour, previously being defeated by the Russian in ATP World Tour event at Amersfoort, Netherlands. Arguello raced through the opener with the utmost
ease but had to face some serious competition from the top seed in the next set. He held his serve in the game and nabbed the second set tie breaker to seal victory.
A sloppy start from the top seed put him on the back foot right from the beginning. Gabashvili’s bleak serve remained at 27 per cent and he collected just 13 points out of a total of 41 in the opener. He frittered away three break
chances and dropped his serve two times before submitting the first set to his opponent at 1-6.
Arguello continued playing aggressively in the next set as well but the Russian stood equally to the task. Both men exchanged a serve break and dragged the second set to a decisive tie breaker round. Gabashvili crumbled under the
pressure of defeat, winning just three points in the decider and eventually lost the contest at 6-7(3).
The Argentine veteran will play Flavio Cipolla of Italy in the first quarter-final at Barranquilla. Cipolla stood victorious against Robert Farah of Colombia in the second round matchup, defeating the home favourite in a three-set
thriller, 6-7(5), 7-5, 7-6(5).
A great exhibition of mental resilience was observed from the Italian in a four hour twenty two minute marathon competition. All the three sets were dragged into a tie breaker round as none of the players was willing to submit.
A total of 273 points were played in the contest, with 132 collected by Farah and 141 bagged by Cipolla.
The competition was very intense from the start as both contestants pressed hard to come on top. Farah won the opening set tie breaker to lead 1-0, only to drop the next set to Cipolla to level the game 1-1.
The high voltage third set went on neck-to-neck and went to the tie breaker. Cipolla’s nerves of steel gave him the competitive advantage in the ultimate decider and sealed off the contest at 7-6(3) to reach the quarter-final of
the tournament.
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