Thomaz Bellucci crumbles Tommy Haas to sit in the 3rd round – Legg Mason Tennis Classic 2011
Thursday, 4th of August heard the claps of thousands as Tommy Haas and Thomaz Bellucci battled it out for the 3rd round seat in the Legg Mason Tennis Classic 2011. The match intensified as it saw 3 sets of
lightening forehands and backhands. The fixture was played at the William H.G. Fitzgerald Tennis Centre in Rock Creek Park on hard court. However, Thomaz Bellucci, the Brazilian, made it through the blood bath winning 7-6(3), 3-6 and 6-3.
Tommy Haas, German world No.576, played the lucky loser Amer Delic in the first round beating him in straight sets and made it to the 2nd. The 33-year-old has been the former world No.9 in 2007 but slowly dropped down
with his increasing age. The right hander gave his best shot at his 2nd round challenger but had to swallow a hard loss.
On the other hand, Thomaz Bellucci, currently ranked at world No.36 proved to be the better player. Clearing the first round with a walkthrough, the young 23-year-old mustered the old dog beating him in a vicious 3 set fight.
The match started off with Bellucci breaking the German in the first game of the match. Saving a breakpoint in the next set, the 23-year-old increased his lead to 2-0. Haas won his first game of the set rolling the scorecard 1-2.
The second breakpoint of the set came in game 6 when Haas levelled the scores at 3-3. He then led the game as he won the following game 4-3. With breakpoints in the next two games for both players the scores now went on 5-4 in favour of Bellucci.
Ultimately, the set went into a tiebreaker. The Brazilian finally broke his German challenger winning the tiebreaker and the set 7-6(3).
The game electrified as the former world number nine jumped back in the game beating the young star 6-3 in set 2. The set started off with Bellucci serving first and winning the game. Out of the four breakpoints in the set Haas
won 3 of them to grab the set and level the match score. The breakpoints came in game 3, 5, 6 and 9.
The severe beating fired up the 23-year-old world no.36. Proving to be worthy of his rank, the young Brazilian thrashed the German former world No.9 with the same score he got in the second set. Out of the 4 breakpoints in the
decider, Bellucci stormed 3 of them to win the set 6-3 and the match 7-6(3), 3-6 and 6-3.
Statistically, the 23-year-old saved the game winning six breakpoints out of eleven. Surprisingly, Tommy Haas had more total points that the world no.36. However, with 64 service points and 43 returners, Thomaz Bellucci won the
match totalling 107 points and made a comfortable seat in the 3rd round of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic to play Marco Baghdatis for a spot in the quarterfinal.
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