ATP WASHINGTON and UMAG: Martin advance to his 1st ATP final where he plays Fognini. Monfils and Karlovic left in Washington

ATP 250 Umag (Outdoor Clay) :

Before Umag, Andrej Martin has played only 5 ATP tournaments and scored 3 wins in them. Now, he will play for his first ATP title after reaching the final with a 7-6 6-4 win against Carlos Berlocq. The match lasted 2 hours and it was an open battle right from the start, but it was Martin who took the crucial points, despite being inexperienced at this level of competition. He played brave and aggressive tennis, dictating the rallies with his forehands, and he had no less than 17 break points, converting 6 of them. Berlocq also had his chances on return but stayed on 5 breaks from 7 opportunities, which wasn’t enough in the end. It was a feast of breaks in the opening 8 games, with 3 on each side and with just 2 holds in between. Starting from the first game, when he converted his 5th break point, Martin was in front 3 times, however, Berlocq would always find the way to break back, as they were locked at 4-4. They served better in the last 4 games, with just one break point saved by Berlocq, to insert a tie break. Martin built a 5-1 lead with 2 mini-breaks and he converted the 2nd set point to clinch it 7-4, propelling himself just a set away from an amazing success. In the second set, Berlocq was still struggling to keep his second serve …

continue reading in source www.tennisworldusa.org