Maximo Gonzalez dumps Alessandro Giannessi in the second qualifying round – Brasil Open 2012
Seventh seed Argentine, Maximo Gonzalez, dumped the Italian competitor, Alessandro Giannessi, to progress into the final qualifying round of the Brasil Open tournament. On Sunday, both players contested for an hour and 41
minutes before the 28-years-old Argentine bagged the win in straight sets with cumulative scores of 6-3, 7-5.
Both players had contested once before this encounter. It was a challenger match played in July 2011 and surprisingly the Italian pulled an upset; defeating the Argentine in straight sets 6-4, 6-3. This time, Gonzalez made
sure that his opponent was not provided any opportunity to take the lead and dominate the proceedings.
Argentine tennis icon, Gonzalez, started the match with a successful serve game. He continued his momentum and aggressive style of play in the second game; taking his opponent with a surprise and ousting him on his opening
serve game. Scores progressed to 2-0.
Gonzalez was pushed on the back foot in the third game but he managed to counter the onslaught and registered another successful hold. Finally, the inferior ranked Italian held his serve for the first time and diminished
the trail to two games. It was crucial for him to find a breakpoint early in the set in order to ease pressure on his serve games.
The Seventh seed was in no mood to provide any opportunity to his opponent. He slowed the tempo of the game after the first breakthrough and frustrated his opponent. Giannessi was capitalizing on the power play but his opponent
was not slowing the pace on his shots, making it difficult for the Italian to generate any speed on his returns.
With no more breakpoints in the following games of the set, Gonzalez occupied the territory with an initial set lead and exerted enormous pressure on his opponent. Trailing one set down and extremely frustrated with his shot
selection, Giannessi started the second set on a low-note.
A slight mishap from the Argentine boosted his morale and he started to play his natural game. Crowd was once again brought to life and cheers were heard all over the arena. Every point was celebrated from the Italian and
his passion to fight back emerged enormously in the first three games. He was rewarded for his efforts in the fourth game with a successful breakthrough.
The Argentine contestant was smart and tackled the situation brilliantly. He broke serve in the following game and came out with an all-round onslaught. Another breakpoint in the eleventh game earned him the pivotal edge
over his opponent. He gobbled up the win; confirmed the spot in the final qualifying round against the Chilean contestant, Paul Capdeville.
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