Thiago Alves overcomes Adrian Ungur in the Round Robin match – ATP Challenger Tour Finals 2012 CH
Top seeded Brazilian, Thaigo Alves, registered a thumping victory at the season-ending finale, ATP Challenger Tour Finals, but still failed to book a place in the semi-final round of the tournament. He had to overcome the early
resistance from the sixth seed Romanian, Adrian Ungur, to register a straight-sets victory in the Round Robin clash of the Green Group on Thursday.
The home favourite took one hour and 35 minutes to wrap up the proceedings at 7-6(6), 6-2. However, Ungur still had the advantage of his early two victories against Guido Pella and Ramirez Hidalgo in the Round Robin to claim a
berth in the round of four at this coveted Challenger Series event in Brazil.
The Thursday’s contest took off in a convention manner, with both contestants holding their serves alternatively to move the score line on even terms. Alves had three break opportunities in the opening set but he was denied by
Ungur on each occasion. No break serves from either sides dragged the score to 6-6 and a tie-break round came into play. The decider also went to the wire and Ungur kept pushing the Brazilian wildcard to his limits. However, Alves earned a crucial mini-break
in the last minutes of the set and claimed the opener at 7-6(6) to get one up in the match.
Once getting into his winning groove, Alves came out roaring in the second set. He broke the Romanian serve in the second game to impose a 3-0 lead. Ungur held just one serve game before he suffered another meaty blow from his
opponent, falling to 1-5 deficit. He made his last attempt to remain alive in the match and broke Alves in the seventh game to reach 2-5 but an immediate break of serve from the Brazilian in the very next game marked an end to the match. Alves nudged forward
and convincingly closed out the contest at 6-2 but couldn’t prevent Ungur from entering the semis.
Ungur will take on the fifth seeded Slovenian, Aljaz Bedene, to earn a place in the title match of the ATP Challenger Tour Finals on Friday.
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