Teymuraz Gabashvili defeats Nikola Mektic to move into quarterfinal – Open Castilla y Leon 2011 CH
Fifth seeded Russian, Teymuraz Gabashvili, won his second round matchup against the Croatian qualifier, Nikola Mektic, to reach the quarter-final draws of Open Castilla y Leon on Thursday afternoon.
The ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour competition took place on the hard courts of Segovia, Spain, with Gabashvili winning the three-setter at 7-5, 2-6, 6-2. The Russian took one hour and fifty five minutes
of play to dispose of Mektic from the tournament and moved into the round of eight convincingly.
The contest featured some quality tennis from both competitors, with plenty of serve breaks and a number of assertive winners throughout the game. Mektic’s serve of 53 per cent earned him 33 first serve points, with the Russian
winner bagging 30 points en route to victory. The Croatian fired 12 thudding aces in the matchup and coughed five double faults as well, while Gabashvili cracked in four aces and four double faults to win the contest.
Very less difference was seen in the overall match statistics of the two players but it was only the matter of time that the fifth seeded Russian bagged some crucial points in the contest to come out as the winner in the end. Intense
tennis was seen right from the opening set and both men launched a series of attacks upon their opponent to get the early advantage.
Both contestants traded two serve breaks each in the first set to take the scores to 6-5, with the Russian leading. A third break point conversion from Gabashvili sealed the opening set for him at 7-5, getting him one up in the
game. Mektic made a tremendous comeback in the second set gave away no chance to the Russian competitor to have his impact on the game. The Croatian registered two serve breaks to bag the second set at 6-2 and levelled the matchup with one set a piece.
Gabashvili took hold of the final set early and raced away to 3-0 lead early to push Mektic out of the game. a later serve break in the eighth game marked an end to the contest in the favour of the Russian at 6-2, sending him in
the quarter-finals of Open Castilla y Leon.
Fifth seeded Gabashvili will take on Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland, in the next round matchup for a place in the semis. The Swiss defeated Joao Souza of Portugal in the second round of the tournament to reach the quarters.
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