Thomaz Bellucci stuns Feliciano Lopez into the semi-finals – Credit Agricole Suisse Open 2012
World number 60, Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil, put on a splendid show to beat the fifth seed, Feliciano Lopez, in twin sets 6-3, 6-3 in the quarter-finals of the Credit Agricole Suisse Open in Gstaad, Switzerland on Friday. The Brazilian
took one hour and 26 minutes to oust his higher ranked rival from the event.
The 24-year-old is in good form lately, as he also reached the last-four stage at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart last week, losing to the eventual champion, Janko Tipsarevic, in a three sets thriller 4-6, 6-2, 4-6. Before that,
Bellucci defeated Germany’s Tobias Kamke in the final to capture a challenger event in Braunschweig.
The Brazilian also gave a couple of good performance in the first four months of the season, reaching the last 16 at the BNP Paribas Open and Monte Carlo Rolex Masters. He stunned a number of top players during these two events
including Jurgen Melzer, Kevin Anderson and David Ferrer.
Talking about the recent match, Bellucci and Lopez made a stable start, as they did not allow each other to break serve in the opening four games and levelled the score at 2-2. There was intense fight in the fifth but the Brazilian
managed to break Lopez in the end and went on to consolidate on it to gain a 4-2 lead. Serving to stay in the set at 3-5, Lopez lost his serve once more, going down 3-6.
Bellucci pounded five aces and did not hit any double fault in the opening set. On the other hand, Lopez smacked three aces but he also committed six horrible double faults. Both the Brazilian and the Spaniard had a low first serve
percentage of 45 and 47 respectively. Though, Bellucci’s conversion rate was better than his opponent, as he captured 13 of the 14 points on the first deliveries compared to 14 of the 17 by Lopez.
Carrying the winning momentum into the second set, Bellucci grabbed opening three games to attain a 3-0 advantage. Lopez was close to coming on equal terms, as he broke back in the fifth to reduce the deficit to 2-3 but he lost
the following two, trailing 2-5. Bellucci did not allow his higher ranked rival to bounce back, holding his serve in the ninth game to triumph 6-3.
The Brazilian contender will lock horns with the fellow unseeded player, Grigor Dimitrov of Brazil, in the semi-finals.
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