Pedro Sousa crushes Evgeny Korolev to reach the 2nd round – San Sebastian Challengers 2011
Portuguese tennis pro Pedro Sousa battled past Evgeny Korolev of Kazakhstan 6-7 (4), 7-6 (8), 6-1 on Monday to advance into the second round of 2011 International San Sebastian Challengers here in San Sebastian, Spain.
Entering the tournament as a qualifier, Sousa showed amazing fighting spirit and characters in match that lasted for nearly 2 hours and 43 minutes on the red clay courts of San Sebastian. Sousa was extremely delighted at his victory,
as he looked down and out after the loss of opening set. Regrouping himself, the Portuguese made a phenomenal comeback to crush his opponent.
Korolve looked in superb form as the match started. He timed the tennis ball to perfection early in the match. Breaking his opponent early in the opener, he took a vital 4-2 lead to dent his rival’s confidence levels. Breaking
straight back, Sousa also changed the gears to stay in the set at 4-4.
Both players held on to their next two service games as the set was forced into a tie-breaker. The Kazak tennis-pro raised the level of his game as he clinched three straight points in the tie-breaker to pocket the set and take
the set score lead 1-0.
The second set was also played in a similar fashion as the contestants contested really hard for every available point. Handling the pressure brilliantly, Sousa continued to play aggressively to put his opponent under extreme pressure.
The two men broke each other once as a the match entered a very tricky phase at 5-5.
Showing no sign of nerves, Sousa held on to his next service game to take the second set into the tie-breaker as well. Despite trailing 5-2 in the tie-breaker, Sousa continued to play his natural game freely. Saving two match points
with his solid defensive techniques, Sousa earned his first set point at 7-6. Blasting a serve ace at an impossible angle, he evened the set score 1-1.
Having put his opponent under extreme pressure, Sousa took more gambles in the final set, which paid off big time. Breaking the serve twice, he raced to an impassable 5-1 lead and then he converted the very first match point to
seal a memorable victory.
Although he struggled to high percentage on his first serve, he was able to dominate the challenger in other areas of the game. Saving ten out twelve break points in the match, he ensured he had the momentum on his side. Converting
73 per cent of the points on his first serve, he secured most of his serve games with ease. Ranked 491st in the Association of Tennis Professional’s ranking, Sousa will be looking to maintain his current form to give similar results in the upcoming
matches as well.
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