Santiago Giraldo cruises past Daniel Brands to advance into second round – Bet-At-Home Cup 2011
Colombian Santiago Giraldo eased past German qualifier Daniel Brands in straight sets at the Bet-At-Home Cup 2011, an ATP World Tour 250 series event held in Kitzbuhel, Austria. He registered a 6-3, 6-3 success over the 24-year-old
German to advance into the second round of this clay court event on Tuesday.
World number 62, Giraldo edged past the qualifier, ranked 119 places below him, in straight sets at the Tennis stadium Kitzbuhel. The Colombian required only sixty-eight minutes to not only advance in this series but also took
lead in the head-to-head series by 1-0 against Brands. However, Giraldo did overpower the German with a breadstick last year at the Sunrise Challenger.
The Pereira native made a thunderous entry at the courts as he got the critical break in the very first game. Later he kept his entire serves through blistering forehands from his arsenal of skills until he put his nose ahead in
the eighth game. After this, Giraldo broke the German’s serve again in the last game to pluck the opener with a 6-3 win.
He clobbered a much better first serve share of 78 percent as compared to Brands’ 63 percent and registered a superb 86 percent win on it. He put a cherry on the set by cashing in on both breakpoint opportunities to his advantage
and faced zero breakpoint.
Brands re-focused in the second set and clobbered a higher first serve share of 70 percent as compared to Colombian’s 59 percent. Along with this, he earned an impressive 67 percent win on it and founded six breakpoint opportunities.
However, to his dismay, the German failed to convert any to his advantage.
23-year-old Giraldo, on the other hand, managed to convert one out of four breakpoint opportunity to his advantage in the second game and eventually took a 3-0 lead. Later, he held his remaining serves and sealed the set with a
similar 6-3 score line again.
The Colombian made a fabulous start of the season as he reached quarter-final at Brisbane, made a semi-final berth at Auckland and reached the title round at Santiago in January. However, his form dipped afterwards and the furthest
he made was in the last eight at Acapulco, s-Hertogenbosch and Stuttgart.
Next challenger for Giraldo is the fourth seeded Italian Fabio Fognini. The Italian received a bye into the second round after being a top four player of the tournament.
Fognini had a poor season as he fell to a five match losing streak in February and March. However, he found his rhythm at the Roland Garros where he reached quarters and continued his form at Umag last week where he made a semi-final
appearance.
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