The three seeded players in action in Buenos Aires on Wednesday had extremely different results in their respective second round matches. One cruised, one was forced to fight, and another was upset in their opening match. After a wild Wednesday, let’s take a look back at day three of the Argentina Open.
Results
Third seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was the biggest name in action on Wednesday in Buenos Aires, and the Frenchman had no difficulty in his first match of the season on clay, pummeling Argentinian number one Leonardo Mayer 6-1, 6-2 in only one hour. Tsonga did not face a break point on his own serve, and broke his opponent twice in each set. He only lost eight points on his own serve in the entire match. Not only was the Frenchman’s serve dominant, he put on a return clinic, winning 51% of Mayer’s service points in the victory.
The big upset of the day came immediately before Tsonga’s match on the newly-christened Guillermo Vilas court, as John Isner was upset by unseeded Dusan Lajovic in a 7-6(10), 4-6, 7-6(6) epic. Lajovic saved a match point in the deciding set tiebreak. In a bizarre twist of fate, Isner was his usual, big-serving self and he was nearly flawless on serve, pounding 15 aces, winning 88% of his first serve points and not allowing a single break point opportunity for Lajovic. However, it turns out the Serbian, who allowed the lone break of serve in the second set, did not need to break Isner to send the American packing. He saved five of six break points against his own serve and claimed a pair of epic tiebreaks to reach the quarterfinals in the major upset.
Dominic Thiem nearly suffered the same fate as Isner, as he was forced to save a match point in the second set of his match against Gastao Elias. However, Thiem saved his match point, won the tiebreak and went on to reach the quarterfinals with a 3-6, 7-6(7), 6-3 victory. Thiem struggled on break point in the match, losing all three against his own serve, including two in the opening set, while only converting two of his seven opportunities against Elias’ serve. In fact, Thiem would not break serve until the third set. He did not reach break point in the first set and could not convert any of his five chances in the second set. That set required a tiebreak, and the Austrian was forced to save a match point at 6-7. But he won three unanswered to send the match to a deciding set, where he would break twice to seal the victory.
In other action, Nicolas Almagro disappointed the Argentinian fans by ousting home hope Frederico Delbonis, who had upset Fabio Fognini in the opening round. It was a hard fought match, but it was the Spaniard claiming the 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory in two hours and thirteen minutes. Delbonis did well to stay in the match, saving eleven of fourteen break points. But he could not make a significant impact on Almagro’s serve, only break twice out of three opportunities.
The second round will be completed tomorrow as the top half of the draw will be in action. This means that top seed and defending champion Rafael Nadal will be taking to the court to begin his title defense.