Nicolas Almagro falls against Juan Monaco in first round fixture – Valencia Open 2011
Juan Monaco, Argentine world No.41, outplayed the fourth seed of Valencia Open 2011, Nicolas Almagro, ranked world No.11, as the two battled out in the opening round of the event. Monaco, well below in ranking, overpowered the higher ranked Spaniard, ousting him 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in a long two hours and 24 minutes hard court match on Tuesday, 1st of November.
Commencing with the fixture, Almagro won the toss and served first to open up the match. Serving out the opener, Almagro rolled down the scoreboard, 1-0. Following with a winner, the Argentine levelled up right away. World No.11 served again to take the lead and bag game three, 2-1.
Monaco kept on the Spaniards tail and levelled up at 2-2. Unable to break each other the two equalled up at 3-3 and then at 4-4 before Monaco flared up the set. Breaking the higher ranked Spaniard, the 27-year-old banked game nine and served out game ten to finish of the set, 6-4, and onto the set two.
Struggling in the opening, Almagro served first for the second set, however, broke down and lost the opening set, 0-1. Breaking back, the Spaniard levelled up the scores finally and served out the following game to take the lead, 2-1. Monaco did pull back with an equalizer to even up the scores, 2-2, and then at 3-3, yet could not finish off the set winning.
With scores at 3-4, Almagro broke the lower ranked Argentine in game eight, 5-3, gaining a comfortable 2 games lead and was now left with just one more win to level up the match scores. Serving out game nine Almagro washed away set two, 6-3, to even up the set scores, 1-1, and moved on to the decider.
Monaco, saving a break point, served out the third set opener rolling down the scoreboard, 1-0. Almagro followed up with a counter and evened up the scores, 1-1. Winning games on respective serves, both levelled up at 2-2, 3-3 and then on 4-4 before the Argentine struck with a shocker.
Serving out game nine, 5-4, Monaco broke the world No.11 in game ten, taking away the set, 6-4, and the match with a surprising match ending to make his way into the second round of the Valencia Open 2011.
Through to the round of sixteen, Monaco will now face Italian rival, Fabio Fognini as the two come to blows to decide the winner of the quarter-final seat of the ATP World Tour 500 event.
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