It’s not every day that a player manages to recover from an opening set bagel but Pablo Carreño did just that today at the Brasil Open against Albert Ramos, taking the win eventually by 0-6, 6-4, 7-6.
Carreño, who has only won two matches all season, vented all of his frustration by desrtoying his racket at the end of the first set and it seemed to work for the player from Oviedo. “Mentally it was very tough at the start. He didn’t miss a ball and I couldn’t find my tennis. I couldn’t get two consecutive balls over the net but I reacted. I managed to turn the situation around and level out the match. I also lost the first set 6-0 against Thiem in Buenos Aires but hopefully this is the last time it happens”, confessed the Spaniard after the match.
There was plenty of other action today in Sao Paulo and it was a good day for the qualifiers. Blaz Rola, Gastao Elias and Facundo Bagnis all booked their place in the second round after defeating Paolo Lorenzi, Pablo Andujar and Paul-Henri Mathieu respectively.
Dusan Lajovic also grabbed a straight sets win over last year’s surprise finalist Luca Vanni, who will see his ranking plummet next week. Diego Schwartzman took an all-Argentine affaire after Horacio Zeballos retired in the second set and will have to face another compatriot in the shape of Federico Delbonis in the next round, Santiago Giraldo made light work of Marco Cecchinato and Iñigo Cervantes took another all-Spanish duel against Marcel Granollers in straight sets.