Thiago Alves bamboozles Juan-Pablo Brzezicki in the second round – BVA Open 2011 CH
Juan-Pablo Brzezicki of Argentine was knocked-out by Brazilian, Thiago Alves, in the second round of the BVA Open Challenger tournament, contested in Brazil, on Thursday October 27th. Home boy won it in straight sets,
after close battle of almost two hours. The final score of the match was 7-6(4), 6-4.
The previous four meetings between the two players were favouring the Argentine who had the head-to-head lead of 3-1. He was ranked superior but his dismal form in the recent past was hinting something unexpected to happen at the
court.
29-year-old, Alves, was in supreme touch having lost just a single match in his last nine encounters and had complete support from his local crowd. Ironically World No.396 outplayed World No.257 and placed a berth in the quarter-final
draws.
The first set battle was an absolute thriller. Both players fought their heart out and used their experience to unsettle their opponents. Both players smashed two aces and committed a single double-fault. It was the matter of keeping
your head cool and waiting for a mistake from your opponent that will provide an opportunity to clinch the set point.
Brzezicki had five opportunities to break his opponent’s serve but he could only manage to convert just two of them; this was the major factor that led to his downfall at the end. A loud roar from the fans came when their local
hero clinched the last point of the set.
Both players had minute differences in their serve and return points; they won forty-two points each but it was just the matter of pocketing those crucial points at the end that made the difference. Argentine had a lot of ground
to cover before he could force his opponent into the third set.
Trailing one set down and multiple factor running against him, it was getting increasingly difficult for the 29-year-old Argentine to make any sort of impact at the court. He looked promising at the start of the set by breaking
his opponent’s serve in the second game and taking the lead of 3-0 but couldn’t hold on to the lead.
Alves came with an all-round onslaught and hammered his opponent on his serves; he broke his opponent’s serve twice in succession and turned up the trail to a lead and pushed the score to 4-3 in his favour. This epic comeback was
loved by the crowd and they were once again brought to life.
Brazilian took the set by clinching two of the last three games; he secured thirty-two points in total and managed to seal a straight set victory over his competitor with a minute difference of just two points.
Thiago Alves now squares-off against another Argentine Pablo Galdon in round of eight.
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