Nicolas Almagro bows out to Stanislas Wawrinka in the third round – Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters 2012
Swiss tennis ace, Stanislas Wawrinka, pulled up a major upset at the clay courts of Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters tournament against the 12th ranked Spaniard, Nicolas Almagro. He clinched the win in straight sets 6-3, 6-3
taking just an hour and 19 minutes.
Wawrinka commenced the match in emphatic fashion; dropped just one point in the first eight rallies of the match and clinched the opening breakthrough in the second game. He held his serve in the following game to mount the pressure
on the eighth seed Spaniard. Almagro, finally, managed to sneak a serve hold and got off the mark in the fourth game.
Both players continued to capitalize on their serves from there on. The Spaniard had his opponent under the cosh on two different occurrences but failed to convert the opportunities awarded to him. If he had converted one of the
two allotted chances to break serve, he would have been able to diminish the trail. However, the first set belonged to the underdog Swiss who hinted at the possibility of a major upset.
The second set witnessed serve holds at both ends before another breakthrough went in favour of the Swiss in the third game. Wawrinka built on that lead with a serve hold and consolidated his position further. The eighth seed Spaniard
failed to win a single point in his third serve game and lost another breakthrough to his opponent; going down 1-4 in the second set.
Swiss tennis ace spared just one point in the sixth game and powered ahead of his competitor to a resounding lead of 5-1. He just needed to hold serve once more to complete the upset. However, a cameo from the eighth seed Spaniard
won him a breakpoint in the eighth game that diminished the trail to 5-3.
Almagro was serving to stay in the set. He was on course to make a comeback especially after winning the first breakpoint in the eighth game. However, all the doors were closed on him when the Swiss took advantage of an opportunity
to break serve and sealed the win in the ninth game of the second set. Wawrinka won 67 of the total 112 point played and smashed a couple of aces that were coupled with an impressive first and second serve conversion rate. He won four out of six breakpoints
compared to just one out of four of his rival.
Next up for the Swiss is the defending champion from Spain, Rafael Nadal.
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