Tommy Robredo prevails over Alex Bogomolov Jr. in the first round – Shanghai Rolex Masters 2012
World number 116, Tommy Robredo of Spain, downed Alex Bogomolov Jr. of Russia in straight sets 7-6(4), 6-4 in the opener at the Shanghai Rolex Masters.
It took the Spaniard one hour and 34 minutes to post this win over his younger rival.
Robredo and Bogomolov exchanged a single break of serve in the first set and equalised the score at 6-6, forcing a tie-breaker. The Spanish participant won opening three points to make a solid start and did not allow his opponent
to stage a comeback, sealing it 7-6(4).
In the second set, both players held their serve in the first nine games, taking the score to 5-4 in favour of Robredo. Serving to stay in the set at that moment, Bogomolov was unable to hold and threw it away 4-6.
Robredo bombarded a total of nine aces on the Russian player and captured 38 of the 44 first serve points in the match. The 5ft 11in tall saved three of the four break points he faced and converted both he received.
The former top-five player won just his fifth tour level match in this season. The Spaniard did not play in the first five months of the year. He started from scratch in June and won a challenger event in Caltanissetta to begin
his quest of coming back in the best 100. He captured his second title in a row by winning the Milan challenger in the same month.
Featuring in his first tour level event of the season, the Spanish national defeated Adrian Ungur and Joao Souza in the first and second round respectively at the SkiStar Swedish Open. However, he could not advance further, losing
to the then world number five, David Ferrer, in the quarters. In his latest tournament, the Spaniard stunned the 37th ranked Jarkko Nieminen in the first round but lost to the eventual champion, Kei Nishikori, in the second round of the Japan Open.
Robredo will take on the fellow veteran, Germany’s Tommy Haas, in the second round. Haas, who is a former world number two, stunned the ninth seed, Nicolas Almagro, in the opener.
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