Movistar Open 2011: Juan Monaco crashes out in first round
Second seed Juan Monaco failed to move into the second round after losing to compatriot Maximo Gonzalez in an all-Argentine clash in the first round of the Movistar Open 2011.
Playing his sixth year at the event, Monaco had been at least able to make it to the quarterfinal round for the past three years and reached the final twice.
Coming into the match, Monaco had a 2-0 lead in his career head-to-head against Gonzalez. Everyone was shocked at the result when Monaco became the first seeded casualty of the event in a hard-fought three set battle.
Gonzalez opened serve in the first set and landed 64 per cent first serves in the T to dominate Juan Monaco. He broke Monaco’s serve once to win the first set 6-4.
Determined to do justice to his high seed, Monaco fought back hard and broke Gonzalez’s serve twice in the second set to win it 6-3.
But in the third set, Gonzalez was able to get the better of his countryman as he broke Monaco’s serve once and saved 5 of 6 break points to secure another 6-4 win and sealed the match.
Taking almost three hours, Gonzalez lost only 47 of 105 points on service to secure his first career win over Monaco.
This is the third event of 2011 where Monaco has suffered an early exit. Seeded fifth in his season opening event at Auckland, Monaco was ousted in the first round by French qualifier Adrian Mannarino. His could not do well in the Australian Open 2011 either
as he was ousted in the second round by Robin Haase.
Maximo Gonzalez will now play Brazilian Joao Souza in the second round.
Souza defeated Pablo Cuevas in his opening match of the event on Tuesday. Despite being ranked lower than Cuevas, Souza broke serve once in the opener to secure a 6-4 victory before battling it out for a close 7-5 win in the second set.
The Brazilian struck five aces to Cuevas’ three, converted 5 of 10 break point opportunities and lost only 34 of 77 points on serve to secure a straight sets victory in almost two hours.
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