Paolo Lorenzi sneaks past Edouard Roger-Vasselin in round one – Estoril Open 2012
Paolo Lorenzi of Italy sneaked into the second round of the Estoril Open after winning a tight three-setter 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-4 against the 83rd ranked French, Edouard Roger-Vasselin in Portugal. He lost the opening set but bounce
back to win the match an two hours and 37 minutes.
The opening set started with a serve hold from both ends but the French took a lead with a breakthrough in the fourth game. His opponent couldn’t find his way back into the match despite limiting the trail to two games. Lorenzi
fought hard until the end but it wasn’t the perfect start for the 82nd ranked Italian.
However, the 30-year-old italian veteran started the second set in a decend fashion. He broke serve in the fifth game to take the lead and consolidated it with a thumping serve hold. He looked like the better player in that set;
striking the ball from the sweet part of his racquet and continuing to pressurize his opponent. Despite showing immense firepower, the Italian was knocked down in the eighth game that levelled the scores at 4-4.
Both players continued to capitalize on their serves and enforced a tie-breaker round into play. With pin-point deep shots, the Italian dismantled his counterpart and took an early mini-break that helped him round off the second
set triumph and level the overall scores.
The stage was set for a cracking final clash. Both players were separated by just one rank (Vasselin being the lower ranked player, hanging on to that 83rd spot) and it was obvious that they will do anything to oust
their counterparts.
A vigilant start to the final set witnessed a couple of serve holds from both ends before the firepower of Lorenzi unleashed some eye-startling winners in the fifth game. It helped him to register the first breakthrough of the
final set that proved to be the final one as well as his opponent failed to reply back anytime in the final set.
It was a gruelling three-setter start to the red clay court tournament for the Italian who helped himself to a 3-1 head-to-head lead against the 28-year-old French starlet.
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