Pere Riba defeats Igor Andreev in the final round of the qualifying draw at Mutua Madrid Open
The professional tennis player from Spain, Pere Riba knocked down Igor Andreev 6-3, 6-2, a thirteenth seed player, in his final round match of qualifying draw at the Mutua Madrid Open on Sunday. He fought strongly and showed better
composure than Andreev edging a two sets victory.
The tournament is being played on the clay courts of Park Manzanares and is the tenth edition of the tournament on ATP (Associations of Tennis Professionals) and third on the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association). Riba who is twenty
three years of age read the match situation with a clever state of mind ensuring his success in the end over the twenty seven year old Andreev.
Riba hadn’t begun the season in good form though. He lost in the first round of Estoril to Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay. As far as Andreev is concerned, the Russian performed extremely well at the Kuala Lumpur last year where he got
the better of Canada’s rising star Milos Raonic in the quarterfinals before losing to world number thirteen Mikhail Youzhny of Russia. He actually played very well in that tournament and generated impressive results especially beating much skilled players
like Nikolay Davydenko and Raonic whom he would have lost to. But unfortunately he couldn’t display his solid form and confidence which he showed there and faced early exit here.
Both players looked very determined and focused in the beginning of the match but when the Spanish pro got an early break, just from that point he didn’t look back and kept the Spanish crowd amused with his magnificent shots. An
encouraging part in this match for the twenty seven year old Andreev was that he managed to save two of the four break points which his opponent failed to do so. Riba on the other hand was totally controlling the match and dictated the outcome of almost every
point. The Russian pro was chipping balls as often as he could but they were not finding their marks because his opponent was fully equipped and responded them with far heavier and faster ground strokes.
Riba made 82 percent of points behind his serves and 43 percent points on return. The Spanish, who already had made up his mind to conquer his opponent completely, scored 26 percent more than his opponent and sewed up the match
in straight sets. With this victory, the Spaniard tennis pro, Riba has made his way into the first round of the main draw where he will face a wild card entrant from Japan, Kei Nishikori.
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