Stefano Galvani outlasts Diego Sebastian Schwartzman in second round – Todi Challenger 2011
One of the most electrifying 2nd round matches on Wednesday, 14thSeptember, kicked off between Stefano Galvani, home player, and the Argentine, Diego Sebastian Schwartzman. Playing at the International Tennis Centre
at Umbria, Italy, the local lad secured a close 6-3, 6-7(6), 7-6(2) win to walk into the quarterfinal round of the Todi Challenger 2011.
It took Galvani three hours and two minutes to finish off as the successor of the clay circuit.
Aged 34, the Italian used his pool of experience as his weapon of attack to outdo the 19-year-old and make his way forward. Majorly clay court players, the two fought out hard until Galvani took out the final set winning the tiebreaker.
Anyhow, the long over 100 point game started off with the old dog winning the toss and serving first.
With the 2nd rounder on its way, Galvani took the opening and rolled down the scores first, 1-0. Following up with his first win, Sebastian levelled the scores immediately and switched the serve back. Serving up game
3, Galvani mustered away with two straight games with a breakpoint in the 4th extended his lead to first at 3-1 and then winning the third back-to-back game, to 4-1.
Hoping to cut the lead back and levelling the scores, the Argentine won 2 straight games including a breakpoint win in game 7, however, failed to retain and lost the following game, 5-3. Serving out the final game of the set,
Galvani blistered the game winning the set 6-3 and led the match 1-0.
Returning to Sebastian in the opening game of set 2, the Italian lost the starter, yet levelled up serving next. The Argentine 19-year-old gave a shocker when he served-broke-served the Italian and took a sudden lead in the set,
4-1. Cutting down the lead to 2-4, the two initiated a chain of breakpoint wins with Galvani winning the most, 2 out of 3.
Finally, with scores at 4-5, Galvani levelled up the scores 5-5 with a magnificent forehand comeback winner in game 10. The two broke each other for the last time in set 2 before the set went into a tiebreak. Edging pass the higher
ranked Italian, the 19-year-old took away the tiebreak winning the set 7-6(6) and the tied the match scores at 1-1.
With the decider on its way, Galvani took out the opening game of the match; however, the 19-year-old stayed neck-to-neck. With breakpoints win for the two in game 5, 6, 11 and 12, both levelled up at each point and again ended
up in a tiebreak.
This time Galvani came up with a stronger defence and an even stronger offence. Taking out the Argentine the young Italian won the tiebreak, set 7-6(2) and the match 2-1.
Walking into round 3 of the 2011 Internazionali di Tennis dell'Umbria, Galvani will now rival the 2nd seed and compatriot, Filippo Volandri for a spot in the semis.
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