Nicolas Almagro ousts Guillermo Garcia-Lopez to reach quarters – Bet at home Open 2013
In an all-Spanish affair, third seeded Nicolas Almagro triumphed over his compatriot, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, in straight sets at the Bet at home German Tennis Championships 2013 on Thursday. He notched up a 6-2, 6-3 victory against
the 30-year-old to secure a place in the quarter-finals at this ATP World Tour 500 series event taking place in Hamburg, Germany.
The seeded Spaniard showed brilliant tennis to outclass his rival and progress at this clay court event. The contestant previously battled each other at the Skistar Swedish Open in Bastad last week and after securing this victory,
Almagro maintained his winning record. This was both challengers seventh encounter and after earning the glory, the former world number nine lowered trail in the FedEx ATP Head 2 Head series by 3-4 against Garcia-Lopez.
Almagro thundered into the match as he reeled off five straight games to take a 5-1 lead. The high flying Spaniard held his serve once again and pulled out the opener with a 6-2 score line.
Currently ranked 15th in the Emirates Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Almagro maintained his intensity in the following set. He drew the first blood in the opening game and took the initial lead. The seed held his entire
serves with powerful forehands and slicing backhands. He cashed another break chance in the last game and sealed the set by winning six games to three.
Summing up the 27-year-old’s performance, Almagro clobbered a slightly higher first serve share of 54 per cent as opposed to his rival’s 53 per cent. However, he impressively marked 20 out of 25 points on it. The higher ranked
Spaniard also fired five ferocious aces and spilled fewer double faults. He superbly warded off all three breakpoints he came across and converted half of the eight break opportunities to his advantage.
Next up for the in-form is the defending champion, Juan Monaco from Argentina. The fifth seed battled past the French contender, Benoit Paire, in three to set-up this clash. He recorded a 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 victory in one hour and 36
minutes.
The Spaniard currently leads 5-3 in the head-to-head series against Monaco.
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