Rui Machado bounces over Andrey Golubev to reach quarters – Rai Open 2012
Third seed, Rui Machado of Portugal, hit back to conquer Kazakhstan’s Andrey Golubev in a three set thriller at the Rui Open 2012 on Thursday. He nudged up a 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-2 victory against the world number 147 to labour into the final eight at this clay
court event which is part of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour 2012 series taking place in Rome.
Machado needed three sets to outsmart the 24-year-old in almost two and a half hour-long marathon in their first meeting. After bagging this match, the Portuguese convincingly advanced into the quarter-finals.
The Russian-born Golubev made a strong start at this red clay court tournament and held his opening serve with conviction. He lost his serve twice but cashed in all three break chances to seal the opener by winning six games to three. The Kazakh manifested
a lower first serve share but acceptably clicked 11 out of 20 points to take the initial edge.
The Lisbon resident on the other side raised the bar of his game in the second set. Regardless of gifting away his serve twice, Machado capitalised on two out of five break chances, consequently dragging the set to the tie-breaker.
The enthusiastic Portuguese perfected his game in the final set which matter the most. He swiped in his entire serves without facing any hindrance and capitalised on two out of five break opportunities to pull out the decider with a superb 6-2 score line.
He carved out his entire serves without facing any barrier and converted two out of five break chances to his advantage.
Overall, the 28-year-old displayed spectacular skills throughout the match regardless of spilling more double faults. He defended two out of seven breakpoints he came across and availed six out of 14 break chances to prevail.
Machado will square off against his compatriot, Joao Sousa, who upset the seventh seed, Marsel Ilhan, in a three set mouth-watering match to secure this spot. Sousa was broken down five times but capitalised on five out of 13 break opportunities to sum up
a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(0) success in two hours and 33 minutes.
Later that day, Dusan Lajovic of Serbia also earned the limelight after destroying Javier Marti with double breadsticks. The 21-year-old blocked one out of two breakpoints he came across and broke the Spaniard’s serve six times to jolt down a superb 6-1,
6-1 victory in just under an hour.
Tags: