Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo outshines Ivan Navarro in quarterfinal – Madrid Challenger 2011
Spanish tennis pro Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo secured a thumping 7-5, 6-2 victory over compatriot Ivan Navarro on Friday to book his place in the semi-final of 2011 Madrid Challengers tournament here in Madrid, Spain.
Seeded seventh at the Association of Tennis Professionals tournament, Hidalgo has been in terrific form since the start of this week. In the opening two rounds of the competition, he displayed some high quality tennis. Showing
his aggressive intent in each game, he has been creating all sorts of problems for his opponent from the baseline.
His strong and powerful forehand and backhand shots let him cover the court very well from deep behind the baseline. Placing his passing shots to perfection, he earned valuable points at very crucial stages of his clash against
Ivan Navarro. Hitting a decent 62 per cent first serve, the Spaniard was able to take control of the points right from the start.
Creating fifteen break chances during the contest, he competed hard for each and every available point. Securing 49 per cent of the points at the receiving end, he was absolutely brilliant in serve return department of the game.
Ranked 142nd in the world, Hidalgo will be hoping to continue his impressive form in semi-final as well to reach his first ATP final of this season.
Breaking the serve at regular intervals in the opening set, Hidalgo dented his opponent’s confidence levels in a fine display of tennis. Holding on to his crucial service games, he forced errors from his opponent and then capitalised
on them to strengthen his position in the match. Leading 6-5 in the opener, he broke the serve for the third time to take 1-0 set score lead.
Hidalgo continued to play aggressively in the following set as well. With a two breaks of serve, he raced to an impassable 5-2 game score lead. Holding on to his next service game successfully, he completed an emphatic straight
sets victory in a match that lasted for more than one hour and 53 minutes.
Tags: