#clube tenis porto open

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Simultaneously, in Porto...

The Porto 2 Challenger final featured sixth seed Adrian Andreev, who also defeated qualifier Daniel Cukierman 7-6(7), 6-4 in the quarterfinals before knocking out his doubles partner for this tournament, Nikolas Sanchez Izquierdo, 6-4, 6-1 in the semifinals, and fourth seed Carlos Taberner, who advanced to his third Challenger final of the year (but had yet to win a title) after surviving a three-setter against fifth seed Santiago Rodriguez Taverna 5-7, 6-0, 6-0 in the previous round. While the first half of this match delivered the possible pushfest between them, it might not be the case as the match developed when either of them became solid.

C. Taberner initially started this match decently in the third game as his cross-court forehand winner set his one-point lead before breaking early to 2-1, consolidating to 3-1 right after. As Adrian kept in touch with a service game hold to 3-2, he steadily struck back as he found out that the Spaniard's forehands became more vulnerable and prone to error. That way, he broke back to 3-3, subsequently holding his serves to 4-3.

Adrian steadied himself enough in those two games before finally attacking more from the baseline. Scoring a forehand winner 3 points into the eighth game, Adrian's preceding forehand also contributed to the break of serve (5-3) as C. Taberner missed his final shot. The Bulgarian sixth seed then earned his opportunity to serve for the first set, which he successfully did (6-3) despite having to face a break point over a backhand error, to take the first set.

[stateofsport211]

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The start of the second set turned out to be a chaos as Adrian/N. Sanchez Izquierdo's smash paved the way before some errors from D. Cukierman/P. Matuszewski resulted in the unseeded pair's break of serve to 2-0, but a working volley on top of the former's erratic service game allowed the latter pair to break back to 2-1. By then, D. Cukierman/P. Matuszewski leveled the play with a service game hold to 2-2.

The second seeds then started the seventh game with a working smash as they tried to approach more aggressively, where they ended up breaking Adrian/N. Sanchez Izquierdo's service game to 4-3. After strengthening their position with a service game hold to 5-3, they began the next game with a volley finish to put themselves a point ahead, and while the unseeded pair's double fault somewhere did not help, D. Cukierman/P. Matuszewski still broke for the match as they took the second set 6-3 to secure their spot in the semifinals.

[stateofsport211]

Porto Ch D R1: Daniel Cukierman/Piotr Matuszewski [2] def. Scott Duncan/James Davis 6-3, 7-6(3) Match Stats

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J. Davis/S. Duncan had some fair chances in the second set, but D. Cukierman/P. Matuszewski steadily shifted the moment in their favor thanks to their balanced strikes. As both pairs tried to go after each other's net games, sometimes the baseline was needed for them to set up the play, where the second seeds often took advantage from before the final shots. As a result, even though the British pair converted 100% of their break points, the second seeds created 7 break points along the way.

Somehow, both pairs also had distinct service game strengths in this match. Even though the British pair scored 2 aces, D. Cukierman/P. Matuszewski had an exceptional first serve winning percentage with 81%, 20% more than the former, which helped them navigating some troubles. However, the second seeds double-faulted four times, which faded their second serve winning percentage 9% below J. Davis/S. Duncan's 51% points won from their second serves.

In the ongoing quarterfinals match, D. Cukierman/P. Matuszewski faces Adrian Andreev/Nikolas Sanchez Izquierdo, the former who D. Cukierman will also face in the singles quarterfinals. While this was expected to be a competitive match, chaos once again occurred, but the more consistent one would prevail at the end. Should be another interesting follow!