Steve Darcis overwhelms Andrea Arnaboldi to reach the final – Trani Cup 2011 CH
Third seeded Belgian, Steve Darcis, outclassed the Italian wildcard, Andrea Arnaboldi, in the semi-final encounter of Trani Cup, on Saturday afternoon to qualify for the final of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger
Tour tournament.
The contest was played on the clay courts of Trani, Italy, with the third seeded Darcis absolutely annihilating Arnaboldi in the contest to force his way to the final. The Belgian rocketed away to victory in straight sets, 6-2,
6-0, taking just one hour and eleven minutes of play to dispose of the Italian contestant from the competition.
Arnaboldi has been in a terrific form all the way to the semis, winning his three most recent matches in straight sets but utterly failed to put up a decent performance in Saturday’s matchup. The Italian held his serve in just
two of the total 14 games being played in the entire matchup, suffering five out of eight break points from the third seed opponent.
Darcis took off the opening set steadily but gathered up his pace gradually to outplay his opponent in the later parts of the game. His 66 per cent precise serve earned him 26 out of 29 first serve points in the game, while his
bleak opponent lagged far behind with just 13 out of 28 points to lose the competition. The Belgian fired six aces in the matchup and coughed three double faults en route to victory.
The third seed registered his first serve break of the day in the third game to lead 2-1 in the opening set to get the early advantage in the game. Arnaboldi appeared in all sorts of confusions right from beginning of the matchup
and started spilling errant strokes to bestow easy points to the Belgian opponent. Darcis closed out the opener with his second serve break of the day in the seventh game, finishing off the set at 6-2 to get one up in the contest.
The following set witnessed sheer domination from the Belgian, who nailed three consecutive serve breaks to race away to victory. Darcis reeled off all the 12 first serve points in the second set, breaking his opponent in his every
serve game to reach 6-0, making a place in the final of Trani Cup to face the unseeded Argentine, Leonardo Mayer, for the singles title. The Argentine made a huge upset in the semis, when he defeated the top seeded, Rui Machado of Portugal, in straight sets
6-4, 6-0, to make it to the final of the tournament.
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