Simone Bolelli, Rogerio Dutra Silva move to the round of 16 – Bet-at-home Cup 2012
Simone Bolelli beats Horacio Zeballos 7-5, 7-5
In a match between two closely ranked players, the world number 111, Simone Bolelli of Italy, succeeded in beating the 109, Horacio Zeballos, in the first round of the Bet-at-home Cup in Kitzbuhel in Austria on Tuesday.
The Italian faced limited resistance, winning the match in straight sets 7-5, 7-5 in just an hour and 44 minutes.
Bolelli clinched the initial breakthrough in the fourth game to move ahead 3-1 but he could not sustain his lead for long, losing the following two and squaring off the proceedings at 3-3. The subsequent five games went with serves
to take the score to 6-5 in favour of the Italian. Serving to stay in the set at that moment, Zeballos severely faltered under pressure, as he failed to win even a single point and lost it 5-7.
Zeballos was first to go up in the second set, nailing a break in the third game and winning his next serve to gain a 3-1 lead. Though, Bolelli hit back immediately to equalise the score at 3-3. Just like the first set, Zeballos
could not hold his serve in the 12th game, going down 5-7.
Bolelli was fortunate to win the contest despite a horrible performance on his second deliveries, making five double faults and dropping 14 of the 29 points on them. The Italian gave, at least, a respectable performance on the
first one, as he grabbed 32 of the 41 points on them. The Monte-Carlo resident evaded two of the three break threats he came across and utilised four of the six opportunities he got in the match.
The Italian contender will lock horns with Germany’s Florian Mayer in the second round.
Rogerio Dutra Silva defeats Jan Hajek 4-1 (Ret.)
World number 107, Rogerio Dutra Silva of Brazil, advanced to the second round, when his Czech rival, Jan Hajek, retired from the match with injury. Hajek was trailing 1-4 in the first set, when he decided to forfeit the contest.
The Czech player was uncomfortable from the very beginning of the match, as he lost his opening serve without winning any point. Hajek held his serve in the third game to open his account but he could not gain momentum, losing
two more to go down 1-4. It was that moment, when Hajek announced that he was retiring from the match.
Dutra Silva is drawn to meet the seventh seeded Latvian, Ernests Gulbis, in the round of 16.
Tags: