Rui Machado butchers Wayne Odesnik in the quarter-final – Sao Leopoldo Challenger 2011
After an impressive start, American Wayne Odesnik was butchered by the top seed Portuguese, Rui Machado, in the quarter-finals of Sao Leopoldo Challenger tournament, contested in Brazil, on Friday November 4th. This
was their second encounter in two weeks and Machado already had a head-to-head lead of 1-0. He finished the match in just over an hour and forty-eight minutes with a score of 6-4, 6-2.
Top seed, Machado, fired home in his last game defeating his opponent in Sao Jose Do Rio Preto Challenger’s second round last month and was aggressively thumping his opponents in this tournament as well. Supreme form and superior
rank clearly favoured the top seed.
Odesnik had his opportunity to level the head-to-head score in just over a week time but he couldn’t steal a win to place himself in to the semis. He started off the proceedings with a game win and rocked the crowd by breaking
his opponent’s serve in the next game to create some doubt in viewers mind.
Third game was also held by the American and saw jaw-dropping fierce ace but that was the last of the highlights of his prolific display. Machado took over from there and hammered him opponent in all departments.
Spectators were totally absorbed into the match and were not blinking for a second because they might miss some interesting knock. The all-round onslaught was carried till the sixth game of the match and score was levelled at 3-3.
Odesnik did take lead once again by holding to his serve but he couldn’t create the same impact which the Portuguese had created.
The momentum of the game was with the top seed that was rocking the stage with his fearless power play, effortless backhands and excellently placed forehands. Ninth game was the last moment when Machado completely turned over the
set in his favour by breaking his opponent’s serve for the second time and clearing his way for a remarkable first set win.
Trailing one set down and facing an incredible turnaround in the last set, losing it right under his nose, Odesnik looked worn out and low on confidence. He started the second set on high note but was not enthusiastic in his approach.
The score was pushed to 1-1 and then Machado built some momentum with a successful breakpoint in the third game and took the score to 4-1 by breaking for the second time in succession. Tiring American couldn’t handle so much pressure
and surrendered at that stage.
Eighth seed played the rest of the game half-heartedly, not reaching for the slight difficult returns and was waiting for the match to get over. Machado didn’t make him wait long as well and finished the game as soon as he could
and marched into the semi-final.
Rui Machado faces the fourth seed Leonardo Mayer in the semi-final.
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