Thomaz Bellucci crushes Cedrik-Marcel Stebe to reach semis – Mercedes Cup 2012
Brazilian star, Thomaz Bellucci, crippled the local contender, Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, with a breadstick at the Mercedes Cup 2012 on Saturday. He jolted down a 6-4, 6-1 success against the 21-year-old to cruise into the final four at the Tennis Club Weissenhof
in Stuttgart, Germany.
Bellucci required 70 minutes to outsmart the world number 82 at his home soil. Battling each other for the first time, Bellucci not only edged in the FedEx ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Head 2 Head series by 1-0 against the German but also booked
a spot in the semi-finals at this outdoor clay court tournament.
The Sao Paulo resident convincingly entered this ATP World Tour 250 series event and held his opening serve with poise. He failed to block the lone breakpoint he faced but cashed in half of the four break chances, subsequently registering a 6-4 success.
He clobbered a lower first serve share but amazingly marked 11 out of 17 points on it.
Ranked 64th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Bellucci swiftly swiped his entire serves without facing any breakpoint. He capitalised on three out of five break chances and pulled out the victory with a breadstick. The Brazilian
produced a better first serve share this time and spectacularly marked six out of eight points on it.
Summing up the Brazilian’s performance, Bellucci committed fewer double faults and capitalised on five out of nine break chances to steal the show.
Next in line for Bellucci is the top seeded Janko Tipsarevic who rallied past the local star, Bjorn Phau, in almost three hours to book this spot. He dusted away four match points and took full advantage of the 10 double faults Phau spilled.
"I’m a little bit lucky that I managed to win [the second set] and save four match points," Tipsarevic was quoted in a courtside interview. "I kept calm in the third set and I was playing good. We were out on the court so long and it’s not easy to close
out the match no matter who you’re playing. He went for a little bit too much on two occasions, but on the other two match points I think I played well."
The second seeded Juan Monaco will accompany Bellucci in the final four. He triumphed over Slovakia’s Pavol Cervenak with a breadstick in one hour and 36 minutes. The Argentinean number two was broken four times but capitalised on seven out of 10 break chances
to record this victory.
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