Nicolas Almagro overwhelms Lukasz Kubot in the first round – Australian Open 2012
World number 10, Nicolas Almagro of Spain, had to work hard a bit to register victory against the craft Pole competitor, Lukasz Kubot, in the opening round of the Australian Open on Monday. The enthralling encounter lasted for
almost three hours before the 10th seed finally wrapped up victory at 1-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-5, to clear the first round of the Grant Slam event in Melbourne, Australia.
The contest witnessed an amazing display of sheer resilience from the 58th ranked Pole competitor, who stretched Almagro to his limits before submitting in the fourth set. Kubot went berserk in the opening set but gradually
tend to lose his pace in the later parts of the game to let the 10th seed back in the competition. The Spaniard cracked 15 thudding aces in the entire contest, while Kubot’s 16 double faults proved too taxing for him in the end.
The unseeded Pole raced through the games in the opener, breaking the Spanish serve two out of seven times to exert pressure upon the world number 10 early in the match. He secured 13 out of 14 first serve points to get the better
of Almagro and closed out the set at 6-1 to get one up in the match.
The next set witnessed an early trade of serve breaks from both sides, followed by a regular game to take the scores to 5-5. Almagro made the crucial move in the 12th game and nailed a critical break point to close out
the second set at 7-5, bringing the match back on even terms. Another serve break in the eighth game proved sufficient for the Spaniard to take the third set 6-3 and get a 2-1 lead in the contest.
Intense tennis was seen in the fourth set, as Kubot was labouring extremely hard to remain alive in the match. He held his serve till 5-5 but the world number 10 cashed in a timely break point in the 11th game and served
out of the match at 7-5, booking a place in the second round of the Australian Open. He will face the winner of the match between Jeremy Chardy and Grigor Dimitrov in the next encounter.
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