Simone Vagnozzi stuns Radu Albot in the second round – Sibiu Challenger 2012
World number 236, Simone Vagnozzi of Italy, moved to the last eight-stage by ousting the eighth seed, Radu Albot of Moldova, in three sets 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 in the second round of the Sibiu Challenger in Romania on Wednesday.
The Italian needed two hours and 18 minutes to undo his rival in a close contest.
Vagnozzi hit a blow to Albot in the very first game of the match to go up 1-0 but he could not consolidate on that, levelling the proceedings at 1-1. Both players held their following serve to take the score to 2-2 but it was all
Vagnozzi show later on, as he grabbed four in a row to seal it 6-2.
The Italian neither hit an ace nor committed any double fault, having a first serve percentage of 79 and converting 15 of the 26 of them into points. The 5ft 8in tall did a very good job on the returns, as he clinched nine of the
13 first and four of the eight second ones.
The start of second set was steadier compared to first, as Vagnozzi and Albot won their opening three serves to take the score to 2-1 in favour of the latter. The Moldovan snatched a break in the fourth game and consolidated on
it to attain a 4-1 advantage. Vagnozzi hot back in the seventh to reduce the trail to 3-4 but Albot captured two in a row after that to win 6-3.
The Moldovan contender put in 73 percent of the first serves and clinched 21 of the 33 points on them. The right-hander was a bit erratic on the second deliveries, losing eight of the 12 points on them. The 22-year-old put away
one of the five break points he faced and utilised both he created in the second set.
Albot was looking good in the decider too, as he nailed a breakthrough in the opening game and held his following serve to go up 2-0. The Moldovan maintained his lead till 4-2 but then he lost four back to back, going down 4-6.
Vagnozzi did not perform well on his second deliveries, as he dropped six of the eight points on them and also committed a couple of double faults but he compensated that by pocketing eight of the 11 points on the second returns
in the final set.
The Italian will play either Adrian Ungur of Romania or Cristobal Saavedra-Corvalan in the quarter-finals.
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