Nicolas Almagro battles past Daniel Gimeno-Traver into the last four – SkiStar Swedish Open 2012
Seeded second in the draw, Nicolas Almagro of Spain faced a severe challenge from his compatriot, Daniel Gimeno-Traver, before outlasting him in three sets 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-3 at the last-eight stage of SkiStar Swedish Open in Bastad,
Sweden on Friday.
Almagro and Gimeno-Traver did not drop their serve throughout the first set, taking the score to 6-6 and forcing a tie-breaker. They went neck-to-neck till 4-4 but the higher ranked Spaniard won three of the following four points
to capture it 7-6(5).
Ranked 10th in the world, Almagro bombarded 10 aces on his rival but also made a couple of double faults. He grabbed half of the points on his second serves and returns, pocketing nine of the 18 and eight of the 16 points
on them respectively in the opener.
In the second set, both players held their serve in the first six games to level the proceedings at 3-3. Gimeno-Traver secured a breakthrough in the seventh and capitalised on it to win 6-4.
The 6ft 1in tall banged in two aces and 61 percent of the first serves, clinching 14 of the 19 points on them in the second set. The Valencia, Spain resident did not provide any break chance to Almagro and availed one of the six
of his own.
Gimeno-Traver and Almagro did not allow each other to break serve in the first seven games of the decider, taking the score to 4-3 in favour of the latter. Almagro hit a blow to his countryman in the eighth and made the most of
it to triumph 6-3.
Two hours and 15 minutes were needed by Almagro to undo his countryman in a tough match.
Talking to the reporters after the match, he said, "I tried to play my best day today. I know I did not feel a 100 per cent. I am in the semi-final now. I want to rest. I want to recover my shoulder and see what I can do tomorrow."
Almagro is drawn to take on Czech Republic’s Jan Hajek for a place in the title match.
On playing Hajek in the next match, the Spaniard said, "He is a good player; he is in the semis here in Båstad. Tomorrow is a special match for me because it’s a semi here in Båstad again. I want to be in the final on Sunday. I
am going to fight. And if I have any chance to beat him I want to take it and a I want to play the final."
This will be the second meeting between Almagro and Hajek. The Spanish player leads 1-0 in the head to head series.
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