Paolo Lorenzi strains past Cervantes-Huegun to reach the quarterfinal – Orbetello Challenger 2011
Seeded at number five in the tournament, Paolo Lorenzi of Italy, won his encounter against the Spanish competitor, Inigo Cervantes-Huegun, in the second round of Orbetello Challenger, being played on the clay courts of Orbetello,
Italy on Thursday.
29-year-old Lorenzi displayed his tremendous determination and steely nerves to bag an enthralling straight sets victory by setting the final scores at 7-6(1), 7-5, in two hours and twenty one minutes to make it to the round of
eight of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour event.
The Spanish rival hung in the game till the end but it was just the matter of time that Lorenzi clinched a number of crucial points in the contest to come out as the winner in the end. Cervantes- Huegun met the aggression of the
fifth seeded Italian with great courage but some silly unforced errors at the critical moments wore him out later in the contest.
A quality display of clay-court tennis was seen from the two contestants in the opening set, trying to gain the early advantage. Lorenzi was phenomenal with his serve, delivering 81 per cent of it on target and reeling off 21 first
serve points, while the Spaniard followed him with 14 points. The Italian drew the first blood in the contest in the third game by breaking the Spanish serve, only to drop his own serve in the very next game to Cervantes-Huegun.
A further trade of serve breaks was witnessed by the two men in the sixth and seventh game of the opener, dragging the set into a tie breaker round at 6-6. Cervantes-Huegun put up a poor performance in the pressure situation of
the tie breaker round and could secure merely one point, with Lorenzi reeling off three straight points to close out the opening set at 7-6(1).
Cervantes-Huegun came out firing in the following set and broke the Italian serve right away to lead 2-0. Lorenzi finally got his revenge in the seventh game by breaking the Spaniard and then held his serve to level the second
set at 4-4. It appeared as if the set was heading for a tie breaker at 5-5 but a timely serve break from the fifth seed Italian wrapped up straight sets victory for him at 7-5.
Up next in the quarter-final draws is the Frenchman, Romain Jouan, who defeated the other Italian, Simone Vagnozzi in the second round of the tournament.
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