Thomaz Bellucci delighted despite losing in Moscow final – Tennis Special
Brazilian star, Thomaz Bellucci, bowed out to the second seed, Andreas Seppi from Italy, in brutal three sets at the final showdown of Kremlin Cup by Bank of Moscow 2012, an ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 Series event held in Russia.
Regardless of losing his first indoors final, Bellucci is happy for securing this spot.
Entering the tournament standing at number 41st in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Bellucci made a stunning start at this event. He crippled the Italian contender, Flavio Cipolla, with a breadstick in his opening match to enter
quarters.
Seeded fourth in this event, Bellucci maintained consistency in his game in the last eight. He triumphed over Poland’s Jerzy Janowicz in straight sets after showing tremendous skills. The Brazilian lost his serve once but cashed half of four break chances
to formulate a 6-4, 7-6(3) score line in one hour and 46 minutes.
He lost his track towards the semi-final battle against the Croatian star, Ivo Karlovic. However, Bellucci made an epic comeback and overpowered the Croat in two hours and 21 minutes.
In the title-round, the 24-year-old cashed the lone break opportunity to pull out the opener with a 6-3 score line.
The Brazilian kept momentum rolling in the following set and after getting the coveted break early on, he served for the championship at 5-4. Regardless of squandering his chance of bagging his second title of the season, Bellucci broke his rival’s serve
once again and served for the match at 6-5. However, he gifted away his serve to love in the last game and equalised the set scores.
The match was poised on a knife edge but Bellucci failed to seek his momentum. He lost the last four games and eventually suffered the shock.
The in-form Brazilian reflected about his performance in a post match press conference:
"I just did not play at the same level as I was before when I served for the match. Maybe I got too nervous. It was still a good effort from me this week, my first indoor final, it was a good match and he played well.”
Bellucci ended his final four clash against the world number 103 late at night. He could not take rest after the match but still managed to close out the final encounter.
"I finished my semi-final at 11 o'clock last night and at 2 a.m. I was still awake. It was not easy to recover but still I almost won in two sets."
With this triumph, Bellucci climbed to the world number 34 and bagged $64,000 in prize money.
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