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  • Nicolas Almagro def. Filippo Volandri in Brasil Open

    2/16/08 6:21 PM | Cheryl Murray
    - Spaniard Nicolas Almagro faced a tough test from Italy's Filippo Volandri before dominating the third to set up a semifinal clash against Fabio Fognini.

    The first set was entertaining and competitive. After trading breaks early in the set, Almagro took advantage of small lapse in concentration from Volandri to finally take the set at 7-5. Almagro did not play fantastic tennis, but he was solid and returned well enough to sneak the first set out from under Volandri.

    Volandri was a serving machine in the second set. He is not a powerful server, but he very often has a high first serve percentage. He served at 91% for the set; he only missed 3 first serves. Almagro was reduced to reacting to whatever came off the Volandri racquet. The Italian played some really superb tennis to take the set at 6-2.

    Just when it appeared that Volandri had all the momentum, in a flash it was gone. Where in the second set, he was pasting lines, in the third he was missing by a foot in some cases. Almagro broke Volandri in the first game and the Italian simply seemed to deflate. Almagro is now into his eighth ATP semifinal, all of which have been on clay.

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