Teymuraz Gabashvili defeats Raven Klaasen in the second round of the Seguros Bolivar Open
Top seed Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia outplayed the unseeded South African, Raven Klaasen in the second round of the Seguros Bolivar Open at San Jose, Costa Rica on Thursday evening. Gabashvili defeated his opponent in
straight sets, 6-2, 6-4, taking merely one hour and fifteen minutes.
The Russian rarely faced serious challenge from his opponent and eased out of the contest to qualify for the quarter-finals of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour event. World number 77 Gabashvili faced
minimum resistance from Klaasen in the opening set and then manoeuvered through the second one to ensure victory for him.
It was an overall low serve game, with both contestants delivering their first serves around 55 per cent mark. However, the Russian’s proficiency to collect points on regularity proved the critical factor that made the difference
in the game. Gabashvili amazingly won 27 out of 31 first serve points in the match and took 64 points from a total of 109 being played in the game.
Klaasen had his chances in the competition and received six opportunities to break the Russian serve. The South African availed just two chances and failed to defend five break points. Klaasen’s bleak baseline defence was penetrated
plenty of times by his opponent, who stung a number of winners down the line to edge past him.
The Russian had a magnificent start to the contest; delivering 70 per cent first serve on target and brilliantly winning 14 out of 14 points on it. His defence was rock solid and his footwork was agile. Gabashvili anticipated his
opponent’s strokes very well and converted some apparently looking winners from Klaasen into angling cross-court returns.
Gabashvili broke in the very first serve game of the contest and held his serve to lead 2-1. His South African opponent greatly assisted him with a number of unforced errors and providing wide open cracks for him to deliver winners.
The top seed Russian extended his lead to 4-2 before he delivered a hammer blow to Klaasen in the seventh game, breaking his serve to take the scores to an impassable 5-2. He served out of the first set convincingly at 6-2, to lead 1-0 in the, matchup.
Klassen put up some resistance in the next set as he broke the Russian’s serve twice to make the score 3-4. However, he kept missing easy opportunities and committing errors to exacerbate his position in the match. Gabashvili struck
a total of three serve breaks in the second set before he sealed it off at 6-4 to advance to the quarter-finals of the Seguros Bolivar Open.
The top seed Russian will be facing against the eight seeded Croat Franko Skugor in the quarter-final round.
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