Pablo Andujar overcomes Lukas Lacko in the opener – Rogers Cup 2012
World number 44, Pablo Andujar of Spain, defeated Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko in three sets 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 in the first round of the Rogers Cup in Toronto, Canada on Monday.
The Spaniard took two hours and eight minutes to topple Lacko in a tough contest.
Andujar and Lacko held their serves in the first four games to take the score to 2-2. It was an all Andujar show later on, as he grabbed four straight games to close it 6-2.
The Spaniard smacked three aces and made one double fault in the opening set. The right-hander maintained a first serve percentage of 71, snatching 16 of the 24 points on them. The 26-year-old could not respond well to Lacko’s
strong deliveries, as he lost eight of the 10 points on them but he compensated by winning 12 of the 18 second ones. The Spaniard saved the two break points he faced and converted two of the six he received.
Andujar was looking to seal the match quickly, as he hit a blow to the Slovakian in the opening game of the second set and consolidated on it to gain a 2-0 advantage. The Spaniard maintained his lead till 4-2 but then Lacko made
a complete turn around and grabbed four games in a row to clinch it 6-4.
Lacko banged in a couple of aces and committed the same number of double faults, keeping his first serve percentage at 58 and sealing 13 of the 18 points on them. The Slovakian won most of the points on the second returns, capturing
nine of the 13 of them. In comparison, Andujar was himself to blame, as he did not hit any ace and made four horrible double faults, losing nine of the 13 points on the second serves in the second set.
In a similar fashion to the second set, Andujar snatched a break in the first game of decider but this time the Slovakian hit back immediately to square off the score at 1-1. However, the Spaniard struck again twice and managed
to capitalise on them, sealing it 6-2.
Andujar failed to hit any ace and his first serve percentage was also low. The Spaniard won just 11 of the 17 and eight of the 13 points on first and second deliveries respectively but he converted three of the five break points
he received to make the difference.
The Spaniard will play the eighth seed, John Isner of USA, in the second round.
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