Nicolas Massu wins against Yuichi Sugita in qualies – Farmers Classic 2011
Clashing in the Sunday qualifiers of the 2011 Farmers Classic was Nicolas Massu of Chile against the Japanese world No.170 Yuichi Sugita in a tough 3 setter match to victory. The LA Tennis Centre at Los Angeles had its blue hard
circuit cleaned up for the match. The two pros had their first ever meeting in the Farmers Classic with an electrifying match.
Formerly ranked as the World No.9, Nicolas Massu displayed a stunning performance considering his previous 10 fixture results. The 31-year-old had only won 2 matches out of the last 10 before this match. More of a hard and clay
circuit player, Massu has been awarded with two Gold Medals in the Olympics both in singles and doubles. The Chilean is characterized as a strong baseliner combined with solid forehands and backhands. With his fighting spirit, Massu made his way to the final
qualifier beating Yuichi in 3 setters.
Yuichi, on the other hand, is young and pretty much consistent in his performance. Winning 6 out of the previous 10 matches, the Japanese young gun had pointed to shoot the wrong target this time. May be the 22-year-old did not
read the profile of his opponent saying ‘FORMER WORLD NO.9’.
Kicking off with the match, Massu served for the first game of set 1 and rolled the scoreboard 1-0. The Japanese took out the following game to level the score. The next four game went by as breakpoints keeping the score levelled
at 3-3. The set once again locked at 4-4 with Massu to serve. However, Yuichi broke the Chilean on his serve and won the next game to take away the set 6-4.
The second set was none the less the same as it had the same redness in its stats card. Massu once again served first for the set and took the lead 1-0. Yuichi followed to level it up 1-1 with in no time. The scores went on steadily
until the 22-year-old Japanese gave away a breakpoint. However, the Chilean was feeling left out. The former World No.9 was broken by the Japanese and lost the next set to make the score from 4-3 to 4-4. Yuichi took the lead as he won a breaker 5-4 but could
not retain it as he lost on his serve to level the score one again 5-5. Massu took the advantage and banged up the next two games and the bagged the set 7-5 to level the match score to 1-1.
With the third advantage of the match, Massu served for the decider in game 1 to start the score board 1-0. The lower ranked Chilean then swiped away a breaker to increase his lead to 2-0. Yuichi won the next game on his opponents
serve but somehow lost the next to draw the scores to 3-1 to the Chilean. The two players once again exchanged three breakpoints with scores at 4-2 to Nicolas, making the scores 5-4.
The match intensified and led on to a tie breaker. Massu being the specialist in tiebreakers, dismantled the young gun only to be guided back to his home as the Chilean won the set and the match 4-6, 7-5 and 7-6(5).
With a classic win by a classic player, the World No.484 now sits to play in the final qualifier where he will play Greg Jones of Australian for a spot in the main draw.
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