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4/22/09 6:17 PM | Ricky Dimon
Tommy Robredo halts Gaston Gaudio's comeback story with a straight-set win on Wednesday afternoon in Barcelona. Next up for Robredo is Igor Andreev.
After turning back the clock on Tuesday, Gaston Gaudio could not accomplish the same feat one day later. Gaudio, who recorded his first win at the ATP level in almost two full years against Diego Junqueira in the first round of the Open Banco Sabadell, succumbed 7-6(6), 6-1 to Tommy Robredo in the second round. Robredo needed one hour and 31 minutes to set up a third-round clash in Barcelona with No. 12 seed Igor Andreev.
While the second set turned out to be relatively routine, Robredo could have easily made the entire match a cakewalk. The sixth-seeded Spaniard seized to early breaks in the opening frame of play, eventually racing to a 5-2 lead. Robredo, however, gave both of the breaks back; first at 5-2 and again at 5-4. A resurgent Gaudio then successfully served to stay in the set at both 4-5, and 5-6 to force a tiebreaker. The former world No. 5 continued to go toe-to-toe with his favored opponent in the 'breaker, only to drop a nail-biter eight points to six.
Having almost staged an improbable comeback in the first set, Gaudio could not recover in the second. While no doubt earning the respect of the Spanish fans as the 2004 French Open champion making a long-awaited comeback to to the ATP World Tour, the Argentine did not have their support against one of their own in Robredo. Gaudio could not find a way to rally, and this time there was no coming back from two breaks down. Robredo used his third and fourth service breaks of the proceedings to seize a 5-1 advantage and he closed out the match on his first try. The world No. 16 lost only six points in four service games throughout the second set.
"I wanted to win badly in front of the Spanish fans," Robredo said.
Gaudio, meanwhile, remains the last man other than Rafael Nadal to win the French Open. He captured his improbable 2004 title by coming back from two sets down and saving two match points to stun Guillermo Coria 8-6 in the fifth. After failing to qualify for recent tournaments in Miami and Houston, the injury-plagued Gaudio continued to show signs of progress on Wednesday.
"He (Gaudio) showed what a great player he was by playing me tough in the first set," Robredo noted. "But after that I relaxed and finished the match much easier."
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