Rui Machado slays Joao Sousa to reach semis – Rai Open 2012
In an all-Portuguese clash, third seeded Rui Machado crippled his compatriot, Joao Sousa, with a bagel at the Rai Open 2012 on Friday. He barely sweated to formulate a 6-4, 6-0 success against the world number 146 to charge into the last four at this clay court event which is part of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour 2012.
The Lisbon resident took down his compatriot in one hour and 23 minutes after breaking his opponent’s serve five times, he carved out victory in their first meeting. After pocketing this match, the Portuguese convincingly entered the semi-finals.
The 28-year-old made a strong entry at this red clay court event and drew the first blood in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead. Despite losing his serve in the very next game, Machado held his nerves and swiped in his remaining serves with conviction. He capitalised on another break chance in the last game and clinched the opener with a 6-4 score line.
Ranked 96th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Machado went out of control in the second set and unleashed flurry of forehands to strike out all six games successively. He was never challenged with any barrier and cashed in all three break opportunities to earn the fame.
Summing up the winning Portuguese’s performance, Machado manipulated a higher first serve share of 73 per cent as opposed to his fellow citizen’s 52 per cent and magnificently marked 26 out of 36 points on it. He committed the only double fault of the match but clobbered 64 points to dominate.
Next in queue for Machado is the Czech contestant, Jan Hajek, who swept past France’s Florent Serra in straight sets to set-up this battle. The world number 140 lost his serve twice but capitalised on four out of 13 break opportunities to formulate a 7-5, 6-4 score line in one hour and 30 minutes. He spilled more double faults and produced a lower first serve share of 58 per cent as compared to the French’s 66 per cent. However, Hajek impressively marked 27 out of 41 points on it to earn the spotlight.
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