Paul Capdeville advances in qualifiers at Houston
4th seeded Chilean Paul Capdeville dumps American Alex Kuznetsov in straight sets on Sunday. He registered a 7-6(6), 6-2 win over the American to advance in the qualifiers at the 2011 US Men’s Clay Court Championship.
Ranked 138th in the world, Capdeville met the American at the River Oaks Country Club for the fourth time and destroyed him again. He last met Kuznetsov on the clay courts at Savannah Challenger and overpowered the American,
who was the eighth seed in that tournament, by three sets.
The 28-year-old Chilean hasn’t had much progress on tour this season though he has still won seven out of his last ten matches on the Challenger Tour. The highest he went recently was at the Santiago Challenger where he reached
the quarter-finals before losing to Portuguese Frederico Gil. However in ATP World Tour events, he has exited in either the first round or the qualifiers.
Capdeville displayed exceptional skills at the start of the match as he reel off first five games in a row and took the lead to 5-0. After this, he lost his track and concentration as he lost the next five games in a row. However,
in the eleventh game, the Chilean was able to hold his serve again and took the set to tiebreaker. He eventually clinched the set with 7-6(6) win by prevailing in the tiebreaker.
The Chilean had an acceptable first serve share of 61 percent which was slightly lower than the 24-year-old’s 62 percent and he also earned a convincing 56 percent win on it. Capdeville saved five out of seven breakpoints and smacked
three aces. He also found four breakpoint opportunities and converted two to his advantage.
The seeded player entered the final set with same momentum and held his opening serve. After squaring the score at 2-2, Capdeville went on rage mode again and won the next four games in a row to win the set with a 6-2 score line.
The Chilean perfected his movements this time and played flawlessly. He committed zero double faults, conceded zero breakpoint and had a much better first serve share of 75 percent as opposed to Kuznetsov’s 67 percent. Capdevilled also registered an amazing
93 percent win on it and found three breakpoint opportunities.
World number 199, Kuznetsov showed a spark in the opening set as he levelled the score at 5-5 after trailing 0-5 but failed to clinch the set. He had displayed excellent skills at Honolulu Challenger where he reached the final
and at Dallas Challenger where he reached the semi-final but in this event he played poorly and was eventually ousted from the qualifiers at Houston after playing poorly in the second set in this match.
The Chilean will next face another American, Rajeev Ram. The American reached this spot after upsetting 8th seeded Slovenian Grega Zemlja in straight sets.
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