Nicolas Almagro battles past Santiago Giraldo into the second round – Mutua Madrid Open 2012
Seeded 11th in the draw, Nicolas Almagro of Spain fought back after getting stunned in the opener to overcome 53rd ranked, Santiago Giraldo, in three sets 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-3 in the first round at the Mutua Madrid
Open in Spain on Monday.
Almagro and Giraldo served brilliantly in the first set, as they did not allow each other to snatch a break till the end and squared off the score at 6-6. The Spaniard won the first point of the tie-breaker but Giraldo surprised
his opponent and the fans by clinching six in a row to attain a 6-1 lead. Then Almagro shortened the gap to 5-6, as he won four straight points but Giraldo utilised his fifth set point to win it 7-6(5).
The Colombian, Giraldo, fired a single ace and 74 percent of the first serves in the opener. He converted 23 of the 31 first and seven of the 11 second deliveries into points. Both players did not provide each other even a single
break opportunity.
After losing a close first set, Almagro grabbed lead from the start of the second set, claiming a breakthrough in the very first game and consolidating on it to go up 2-0. Serving to stay in the set at 3-5, Giraldo lost his serve
and went down 3-6.
Almagro banged in a couple of aces and did not commit any double fault in the second set. The Spaniard captured 11 of the 12 first and five of the seven second serve points.
Holding 13th spot in the rankings, Almagro struck in the fourth game of the final set and won his next serve to secure at 4-1 advantage. The Spaniard did not let away the lead and sealed it 6-3.
During the post match press conference, Almagro acknowledged, "I was conscious that it was going to be a difficult match; every single match against Santi is really difficult. In the first set, I think that I played really well
to be able to win it but I didn't and afterwards I think that I raised my level and I won two sets."
The Spaniard joined the criticism of the new surface and said, “Being so close to Roland Garros, we would prefer to play on red clay. This surface isn't in the best of conditions. It is very slippery and I hope there aren't any
injuries.”
Almagro with play Marcel Granollers or Carlos Berlocq in the second round.
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