Thiemo De Bakker beats Juan Carlos Ferrero to advance to the second round at the Mutua Madrid Open
Netherlands’s Thiemo De De Bakker recovered from one set down to beat local Juan Carlos Ferrero in the Mutua Madrid Open to reach the second round. The Dutch qualifier had to dig deep to overcome 31-year-old Ferrero, from Onteniente,
2-6, 7-5, 6-4 in 123 minutes. De Bakker was one set down but his tenacious opponent Ferrero ran out of steam and couldn’t keep up the intensity up that he showed in the first set.
Ferro, who has won three titles at Umag, Buenos Aires and Costa Do Sauipe before the end of last year, caught the eyes of many when he made his Grand Slam debut at French Open eight years ago taking Martin Verkerk to three sets
and later reached the final round at the US Open where he lost to Andy Roddick.
At starting point, the match seemed to be a doubtful win for De Bakker, who let his opponent to lead the first set 6-2. However, the Dutch’s powerful two-handed backhands helped score majority of points to steal the match with
a 7-5, 6-4 score line. The 31-year-old Spaniard appeared to be on his way to an easy victory when he broke De Bakker to go up in the first set, but the Dutch pro came alive to take two straight sets before Ferrero closed out the match.
Several unforced errors and missed volleys hampered the 22-year-old Dutch and he lost the first set with a minority of scores as compared to his opponent, who registered 16 percent points more than him in total. After his defeat
in the first set, De Bakker came back with much more agility and alertness. He began the second set with proper solutions, heading towards a 5-1 lead. Ferrero fought hard to level this score, but only succeeded at making it 5-5, while De Bakker stole the next
two games, evening up the score to one set each. He carried his momentum in the final set too and broke his serves in the fifth and third game to clinch the match in straight sets.
Ferrero, ranked 73 in the ATP rankings list has never beaten De Bakker in his first attempt at the 2010 Barcelona Open last week and lost the match. Although he played some of his best tennis in this match but couldn’t maintain
the momentum in the last two sets and handed over the match to his opponent in straight sets. In fact his inconsistent first serves should be blamed which dropped to 12 percent in the final set and allowed his opponent to feast on his slower serves.
De Bakker will face the PTT Thailand Open champion Guillermo Garcia Lopez in the second round of the tournament. Garcia Lopez’s highest ranking is 23 and he defeated fourteenth seeded Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland in the first
round of the tournament. Players have already met each other at the fourth round of the French Open last year. De Bakker had then defeated Lopez in a topsy turvy match with a 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5), 7-5 score.
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