FazDavid Ferrer fires
August 25th 2008 20:39
As expected - Ferrer goes through to the second round
The 4th overall ranked player in the game, David Ferrer, dropped the 111th ranked player, Martin Vassallo Arguello, in straight sets 7-6, 6-2, 6-2 in his first match of the 2008 Open.
Ferrer is having the best year of his career after a stellar run at the Open last year in which he reached the semi-finals of a Slam for the first time when he faced Novak Djokovic.
Although Djokovic won that match in straight sets 6-4, 6-4, 6-3,it marked a turning point in the Spaniard’s career.
Known more as a clay court player similar to his countryman Rafael Nadal, in 2008 Ferrer reached the quarter finals of the 2008 Australian Open as well as the quarter finals of Roland Garros and saw his ranking jump from 15 in 2007 to 4 in 2008.
As Ferrer's first match of this year’s Open began, it seemed he would easily dispatch Vassallo Arguello, a 28 year old from Argentina.
Vassallo Arguello has never made it past the first round of play at a hard court Grand Slam and is 1-8 on hard courts at the tour level.
But as Vassallo Arguello began to warm up in the first set, Ferrer seemed to tighten up.
Both men held serve for each of their first four games. With Vassallo Arguello serving to tie Ferrer at 5 games to 5, Ferrer saw his first good chance to break Vassallo Arguello at 30-30. Instead, he smacked two easy shots into the net in a row.
Ferrer then proceeded to double fault on his first serve in the following game and was visably frustrated, shaking his head as he walked to towel off.
Despite the early misstep, Ferrer held serve and took a 6-5 lead in the first set.
Vassallo Arguello was against the blocks and about to lose his first set, down 30-40 when the crowd at Louis Armstrong rallied around him. He came back from the brink and held serve to push Ferrer to a tie-break. But Vassallo Arguello unraveled in the tie-break, losing to Ferrer 7-1.
Ferrer seemed to have the mental edge over his opponent in the second set after the grueling hour and a half first set win. Vassallo Arguello held his first two service games, but Ferrer easily broke his third and went on to hold his own, taking a 4-2 lead over Vassallo Arguello.
Although the momentum was on Ferrer’s side, Vassallo Arguello put up a good fight in his next service game, bringing Ferrer to deuce several times, but eventually Ferrer broke him and took a commanding 5-2 lead.
Ferrer held serve and took the second set 6-2.
Ferrer turned up the heat in the third set, breaking Vassallo Arguello’s first service game, only allowing his opponent to get one winner in. He put an exclamation point on the break with a crowd pleasing, powerful cross-court forehand that Vassallo Arguello dove for but could not reach.
Ferrer broke Vassallo Arguello again in his fourth service game, bringing the score to 5-2 and easily held on to win his own service game to end the match.
"For me the US Open was my best result here, and my best Grand Slam," Ferrer told media after the match. "And now I am happy to come back here, and we will see."
Ferrer went unbroken throughout the match. He will face the winner of today's match between Andreas Beck and John Isner.
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