Gabriela Sabatini’s compatriot, Juan Monaco, has been defeated by Fernando Verdasco of Spain in the second round of the Shanghai Rolex Masters 2012. Verdasco won the match in the straight sets by 4-6, 2-6.
Monaco who was given the seventh seed in the competition was completely outplayed by Verdasco in the match. Monaco had won the Malaysian Open a few days back. So, he was full of confidence before coming into this tournament. He had got a bye in the first round. So, he began his campaign by playing the second round match. He was expected to go past Verdasco easily, but, that wasn’t the case to be. The Spaniard stunned everyone by beating Monaco in the straight sets. This was the 10th match between these two players and Verdasco has won four of them.
After winning the match, Verdasco said, “It was a perfect match for me. Monaco had been in fine form recently. So, I was a bit nervous before the match. But, I started well and carried on the momentum till the end.”
On the other hand, Monaco was gutted after being defeated in his opening match of the tournament. The Argentinean player said, “It was certainly a forgettable match for me. I committed a lot of mistakes throughout the match and Verdasco took advantage of that. He played better than me today.”
Both the players held their service in the first two games of the first set. Verdasco got a breakthrough in the third game and then, got ahead by 3-1 by serving out the next game. He maintained his lead till the end of the set and won the first set by 6-4.
In the second set, Monaco started well and was ahead by 2-1 at the end of the third game. But, all of a sudden, he lost his composure and didn’t manage to win even a single game after that. He lost the second set by 2-6 and got knocked out of the competition.
In the third round, Verdasco will take on Marin Cilic of Croatia.