Thomaz Bellucci edges past Andrey Golubev in the opening round – Rogers Cup 2011
World number 36, Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil went through some tough times before eventually toppling the Kazakh opponent, Andrey Golubev, in the opening round of Rogers Cup on Monday.
The crowd at the Uniprix Stadium in Montreal, Canada, witnessed an exciting contest of pro tennis, with the unseeded Brazilian contestant winning in straight sets 7-5, 7-6(6), to move into the second round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Masters Series event. Bellucci faced some serious resistance from Golubev in the matchup but managed to make his way to victory with his brilliant manoeuvres and steely nerves.
The contest took one hour and forty seven minutes to conclude, bestowing 24th victory to Bellucci in the running ATP season. The Brazilian made his magnificent serve his primary weapon of destruction in the matchup and took full advantage of his opponent’s silly mistakes in the contest to come out as the winner in the end. He banged in 11 cracking aces in the match and reeled 38 out of 47 first serve points on his 63 per cent precise serve to wrap up victory in straight sets.
The Kazakh opponent had his chances in the game but he failed to cash them in time to finish the contest on the losing end. He converted just two of his seven break opportunities in the matchup, while suffered three serve breaks from the Brazilian. Golubev coughed a number of unforced errors in the game, along with seven double faults, which eventually wore him out in the contest in the second set.
Golubev was off to a terrific start in the opening set, as he broke in the fifth game to lead 4-2 in the contest but frittered away his hold over the match soon afterwards. Two break point conversions from Bellucci sealed the opener for him at 7-5 but stiff contest was witnessed in the next set, with both men dragging the game into a tie breaker round. The Brazilian stood focused in the decider and eventually sealed victory at 7-6(6), getting a berth in the second round, where he will face the winner of the match between the 10th seed Richard Gasquet of France and Florian Mayer of Germany.
Bellucci has already defeated Golubev at Roland Garros earlier this year, when he outplayed the Kazakh in a stiff contest at 6-4, 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-6(5), in the round of 128 of the Grand Slam tournament. His Monday’s victory extends his head-to-head lead over Golubev to 2-0.
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