Potito Starace retires in Barcelona Open first round to make way for Daniel Gimeno-Traver
Italian tennis player Potito Starace retired from his first match at the 2011 Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, after winning the first set of the meeting against Daniel Gimeno-Traver. The pro, who is ranked World Number 43, retired
less than one hour and fifteen minutes into the match due to injuries. At this time, the score-line was 6-4, 1-6, 0-2 for Potito Starace against his Spanish opponent.
Starace began the match well, although he scored less aces than Gimeno-Traver and also committed more double faults. His Spanish opponent took two aces, and was broken once by Starace. The Italian pro scored one ace and committed
one double fault, but managed to make up for this by saving both of the break points which Gimeno-Traver managed to challenge him with. The match continued as Starace took an impressive 55 per cent of the points in the set, to give himself a 6-4 lead in the
match.
However, in the second set, it seemed as if Starace had sustained an injury with his first-set showing. The player competed poorly, and was broken twice. He could not score any aces, and only managed to win 31 per cent of his first
serve points while Gimeno-Traver took a whopping 100 per cent. The Spanish pro showed his mettle in this performance, and won three aces in a near-flawless effort. The pro upped his stats considerably in the second set, taking a magnificent 70 per cent of
the total points in the set to win it with a fry, 6-1.
The third set was, obviously, the shortest one, as Potito Starace seemed to succumb to his injuries. He played just two games, and lost both to Gimeno-Traver who managed to break his opponent once in this short time. The Italian
called it a day at 6-4, 1-6, 0-2 in less than seventy-five minutes of gameplay.
The Spanish pro will now take on compatriot and wild card Albert Ramos in the second round, after the player recovered from a set down to defeat Santiago Giraldo in the first round of the tournament.
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