Thomaz Bellucci moves it into the third round of Mutua Madrid Open
Thomaz Bellucci fought his way to the third round of Madrid Masters after Florian Mayer retired in the second round match here in Madrid, Spain. Mayer retired during the third set, with Brazil’s Bellucci leading at 6(5)-7, 6-3,
3-0. Mayer had not been as ruthless as Bellucci in this tournament, however, perhaps the extra pressure he was taking, became increasingly uncomfortable and forced him to call it quits in the middle of the match.
In the first set both players broke each other once in the first twelve games, levelling the score at 6-6 to enforce a tie-break. In that breaker, Bellucci was pegged back by the irrepressible Mayer, whose tennis skills seemed
more than adequate for Bellucci’s power hitting from the baseline. The German needed only a single mini break to grab the set with 7-5. Mayer fired two aces and won 62 percent on his service game, 31 percent on return and 47 percent of points in total to
take the control of the match before losing the second set.
In the second set, Bellucci broke Mayer in the third game and held his next service game to race to a 4-1 lead. The Brazilian crafted two of the four break points on return and served out the set at 5-3. Bellucci fired four aces
and double-faulted just once to win 72 percent behind his first serves and 63 percent on his second service to win it 6-3. In the final set, after only three games, all of them won by Bellucci, Mayer finally decided to gift away the match to his Brazilian
opponent.
When the German surrendered after one hour and forty one minutes of play, Bellucci reserved his place alongside Andy Murray of Great Britain in the third round of the Madrid Masters. There is a lot in common between these players.
Turning pro in 2005, both are of the same age and haven’t yet managed to clinch an ATP World Tour title this year. The two 23-year-olds have yet to see each other, and the Scot accepts that he is no expert on the Brazilian, who moved it into the third round
at the expense of Mayer who was trailing 6(5)-7, 6-3, 3-0 when German retired. This is going to be a very tricky match as both the players are in good from and will try their best to reach the semi-final.
In some other excellent performances from the day, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Michael Llodra, Rafael Nadal Robin Soderling, Tomas Berdych, and Juan Martin Del Potro all recorded major wins to reach the third round of the 2011
Mutua Madrid Open.
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