Nicolas Almagro beats Marin Cilic in round one - Internazionali BNL d'Italia 2012
World number 13, Nicolas Almagro, was able to beat the 23rd ranked Croatian, Marin Cilic, for the first time in his professional career after facing two defeats earlier. It was a three-setter first round clash in the
Internazionali BNL d'Italia witnessing a slight comeback from the Croatian in the second set. The final scores were 6-2, 3-6, 6-0 at the end of the brawl.
Cilic defeated the Spaniard in the quarter-final of 2010 BMW Open and opening round of the 2008 Australian Open. They were facing off after a wait of almost two years and finally the 12th seed Spaniard got off the mark
against the Croatian former world number nine.
The opening set witnessed an early breakpoint for the Spaniard. He led the show 3-0 and exerted immense pressure on his rival. The 23-year-old Croatian tried hard to fight back into the contest but failed to recover the early break
lost and in the process gifted another breakthrough to the Spaniard who took the first set with no resistance at all.
However, Almagro started the second set poorly and dropped a vital breakpoint in the first game. He went down to a 1-3 trail in quick succession and soon after losing the second breakthrough sunk to 2-5. He broke his rival’s serve
in the following game and improved the score line to 3-5 but gifted the breakthrough in the following game that rounded off the second set in favour of Cilic.
Stage was set for another close battle but Cilic knew little about the onslaught that was coming his way. Almagro trashed him to three straight breakthroughs and didn’t lose a single serve game registering an embarrassing bagel.
The crowd was left dejected. They were expecting a gruelling last set battle but they only saw the Croatian bowing down to his rival in all aspects. Nicolas Almagro progresses to round two of the tournament and scheduled to take
on the winner of the match between the American professional, Sam Querrey, and the 46th ranked Finn, Jarrko Nieminen. The 12th seed Spaniard is in the lower half of the draw and expected to meet his compatriot, Rafael Nadal, in the later
part of the tournament.
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