Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo snails past Facundo Arguello into last eight – Sao Leopoldo Challenger 2011
Spanish Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo was tested to limits before he secured a second round win against the Argentine, Facundo Arguello in straight sets 7-5, 7-6(5) during the Sao Leopoldo Challenger tournament. The match was played in
outdoor clay courts in Sao Leopoldo, Brazil and lasted for two hours and nineteen minutes.
Superior rank, sublime form and experience of the veteran Spanish was tilting the result in his favour. His rival had just won three of his last nine encounters and was completely out of touch. It seemed a pretty easy draw on the
paper but turned out to be an enthralling battle at the pitch.
Match proceedings was started by the Spanish, Hidalgo, who clinched the first game by holding his serve; his competitor followed him and won his respective game and moved the score to 1-1.
The breakthrough came earlier in the set when veteran broke his rival’s serve and took two game lead by moving to score to 3-1 in the first set. Both players held their serves in the next two games and pushed the scorecard to 4-2.
Arguello desperately needed to break and to his glory, his opponent double-faulted that enabled him to break and brighten his chances of winning the set. But instead of capitalizing on his opponent’s shortcoming he lost the next
game on his serve after a single deuce. It was becoming increasingly difficult at that stage to keep a strong hold on the game.
Both players held their serves and in the next two games while the score moved on to 6-5 in the favour of Spanish. Arguello couldn’t break once again to enforce a tie-breaker and lost the first 7-5. It was very close till the end
but Argentine paid huge price for his double-fault earlier in the set that proved to be the pivotal point of the set.
Argentine was extremely unlucky in the second set and lost the most critical opportunity to clinch the set in the last game when he placed the easiest of drop shots outside the court and gifted the victory to his opponent.
Start of the second set was traditional and both players held on to their serves to push the score to 3-3.In the next two games both traded breaks to keep the score closely tight at 4-4. Nervous play from the Argentine in the midst
of the set didn’t cost him much as his opponent couldn’t capitalize on his lethargic approach.
Both players were tiring but tie-breaker was introduced. A disastrous return by the Argentine that went straight to the net put an end to an eye-startling encounter between the two individuals.
Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo moves into the quarters and locks horns with Serbian Nikola Ciric.
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