Nicolas Almagro trounces Marius Copil to enter quarters – If Stockholm Open 2012
Seeded this in this event, Nicolas Almagro from Spain got the better of the Romanian challenger, Marius Copil, in straight sets at the If Stockholm Open 2012 on Wednesday. He nudged up a 6-4, 7-6(4), victory against the world number 178 to secure a spot
in the final eight at this ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 Series event held in Stockholm, Sweden.
The Spanish number three showed top class performance to overpower Copil in their first outing. After earning the victory in one hour and 22 minutes, Almagro not only edged in the FedEx ATP Head 2 Head series by 1-0 against the Romanian.
Almagro assertively entered the Kungliga tennishallen in high spirits. He smoothly swiped his entire serves without facing any trouble. The Spaniard cashed the lone break chance in the fifth game and pulled out the opener with a 6-4 score line.
Ranked 12th in the world, Almagro maintained consistency in his game in the following set. He smoothly held his entire serves after blocking the only breakpoint he faced. The Spaniard squandered both break opportunities and took the set to a tie-breaker.
He unveiled his true colours in it and cruised to a 3-0 lead before closing out the set with a 7-6(4) win.
Almagro suffered two first round losses at the China Open and the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships in past two weeks. However, he re-focused his strategy before entering at this tournament and eventually moved a step closer to qualify for the year
end Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.
The Spaniard will square off against the former world number one, Lleyton Hewitt from Australia. The wild card entrant stunned eighth seed Jarkko Nieminen in three sets to set up this meeting.
The sixth seed, Mikhail Youzhny, will join Almagro in the last eight. He crushed the local challenger, Patrik Rosenholm, with a bagel in 63 minutes. The Russian veteran was never threatened with any hindrance and availed five out of seven break chances to
formulate a 6-0, 6-2 score line. He also smashed four aces and brilliantly marked 18 out of 24 points on his first serve share to prevail.
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