Paul Capdeville advances to third round of qualifying draw at 2011 US Men’s Clay Court Championships
Paul Capdeville continued his lucky run at the qualifying draw of the US Men’s Clay Court Championships by winning his second match of the tournament against Alex Kuznetsov of America.
The fourth seed outplayed America’s, Alex Kuznetsov, in possibly his toughest match, as compared to the first, when he played against Farrukh Dustov.
The final match score of 7-6(8), 6-2 shows how close a match it was in the first set.
The players pushed the first set into a tie-breaker, before the Chilean ended it in his favour. Kuznetsov could not recover and lost the match.
The Chilean succeeded in his last tournament, at the 2010 Guayaquil Ecuador, where he moved past Diego Junqueira in straight sets. He is also a two time winner at Binghamton, NY, USA, where he moved past Kevin Anderson and Rajeev Ram in 2008 and 2009 respectively.
The latter is the one whom the Chilean will meet in the next round of the tournament.
Kuznetsov, on the other hand, is world no. 199 and lost his latest match against Michael Russell in a two setter at the second qualifying round of the Miami Masters.
The American possesses a good record, having won 14 out of his 20 matches. He moved into the second round after winning against Amer Delic.
The opening set took off with both players serving on almost even terms. Capdeville kept in 61 percent of his first serves, while Kuznetsov, who was equally good, delivered 62 percent of his serves.
Kuznetsov won 67 percent of his points on first serves, whereas the Chilean gained 56 percent. Both players gave each other a hard-edged fight and pushed the set into a tie-break situation.
Capdeville earned more breakpoints and eventually raced to victory, with a 7-6 score line.
The final set saw the American having a run of bad luck as his first serves winning percentage fell to 50 percent and he only converted 33 percent breakpoint opportunities.
Moreover, he double faulted twice, letting his opponent collect a whopping 93 percent gain on conversion rates. The Chilean fully capitalized on his opponent’s poor performance and claimed the set with a 6-2 score line.
With this victory, it has become a lot easier for the Chilean to get a foot hold in the next round of the tournament with a huge fan following.
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