Pavol Cervenak gets rid of top seed Diego Junqueira in 1st round – Ciudad de Guayaquil CH 2011
The biggest shock of the day came when Slovakian Pavol Cervenak got rid of top seeded Argentinean Diego Junqueira in the first round of the Ciudad de Guayaquil Challenger 2011.
Two opponents took to clay courts of the Guayaquil Tennis Club in Guayaquil, Ecuador and after one hour and twenty four minutes the unseeded Slovakian flabbergasted the top seeded Argentinean in straight sets of 7-5, 6-1 on Tuesday the 22nd of November 2011.
Even though Cervenak had bagged both the sets, he saw a tad difficulty in securing the opening set. Nonetheless, Junqueira kicked open the opening round by bagging his first service game. Following in his footsteps was Cervenak, who too held his respective serve and placed himself beside his opposition at 1-1 on the scoreboard.
In subsequent two games, the players bagged a service game each and at the end of the fourth game the score had tied at two games each. As the two traded in breaks in the fifth and the sixth games, the score levelled at three games each.
The two were extremely competitive and matched a blow for a blow. The set progressed on even terms and the score tied at four games each at the end of the eighth game and finally at five games each at the end of the tenth game.
Cervenak was tired of the goose chase and pressurised his opponent to double fault on his second serve during the eleventh game. As the unseeded Slovakian benefitted from a game, he then held his serve for the last time in the opening set to secure the initial round with a 7-5 victory.
After taking a whipping in the opening round, the crowd expected the top seed to make a return. However, he was unable to do so and with the mental block, he performed pathetically. Moreover, he did not even try and with a poor service and return game lost the second set by bagging only one game in the entire set.
During the second round Cervenak took a notch higher in his service game and asserted more dominance in the set. He scooped of four successive games by capitalizing on two breakpoints in the first and the third game to take a mini lead on the scoreboard.
The top seed tried to make a return with a hold of serve but that was how far he was able to progress into the second set. During the sixth game Cervenak held his game and then broke his adversary for the last time to conquer the set and the match.
Cervenak achieved his biggest feat and in doing so; he reserved a spot in the second round of the tournament where he will be facing Italian Gianluca Naso.
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