Nico is Spanish, Horacio is Argentinean. Zeballos is ranked 41 and Almagro is ranked 11. They are both 27 years old and neither of them has dropped a set in this tournament so far. This is their first meeting, and no one is expecting a particularly close match. Zeballos DID beat Rafa to win his first ATP tournament in Vina del Mar, though. THAT WAS A BIG DEAL. You know, Nico should probably be ranked in the top ten. I think he might be better right now than Tipsy, but I also think maybe Tipsy has been struggling with injuries? Either way, Nico has played really well the last times I’ve seen him, with the exception of that gross match in the Aussie Open with Ferru which might have been fixed or something, you guys.
(Not really)
(I hope)(sorry Ferru)
Nicolas Almagro(3) vs. Horacio Zeballos(8)
Set 1
The announcers think Nico has one of the most underrated serves on tour, and he proves it here. Zeballos only gets one point in, those serves are great! ….then somehow Zeballos gets an even EASIER hold.
Followed by an Almagro love hold. IT HAS BEEN SEVEN MINUTES.
Whoooooooaaaaaaaaa their serves are on fiiiiiiire
Easy hold for Zeballos, easy hold for Almagro. I have hardly SEEN so many aces, damn. Do these people know that they’re playing on clay? I barely even recognize this as TENNIS right now, let alone tennis that is supposed to be relatively slow and heavy and slidey and technical. Is this real life?
With Zeballos on serve 3-2. Hmmm. Horacio misses two first serves here, and Nico gets the first point but not the second. Aw man, you guys, Nico likes How I Met Your Mother. That’s adorable, and it means I could probably have a rant with him about how terribly that show has treated Marshall and Lily. Provided we could make do in some weird English/Spanish combination. Finally some longer rallies in this game, which is not working out great for Zeballos. Ruh-roh, Nico breaks here and then gets a love hold, of course.
The announcers are spending a lot of time comparing Zeballos to a player who has been BANNED FOR DOPING. They are not suggesting he in any way dopes and are not talking about his body, even, just his style of play, especially the serve and forehand. Still. That is maybe a little awkward, guys, knock it off.
Holy smokies. Nico decides to smash some backhand returns that Zeballos can’t touch. YEESH. Zeballos hits an insane. And then a beautiful drop shot. Good serve and forehand down the line to save the set from 15-40. WOW.
Nico serving for the set, he holds and yells really loud. IT HAS BEEN LESS THAN HALF AN HOUR.
Nico did not miss a single first serve an that entire set. When the announcers see that stat the one who is not Kevin is all
“You are kidding me. I knew he was good, but perfect?! That is unreal. YOU ARE KIDDING ME. That is unreal. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?” and then there was this pause and Kevin says
“…..are….are you honestly suggesting that maybe our statisticians got that wrong or….?”
“NO. WOW.”
Honestly though, I’m totally with that guy. YOU ARE AWESOME, NICO!
Set 2
Horacio took a potty break and the announcers are making a big deal out of him needing that time and not letting it get away from him, and while Nico has been amazing it’s not like Zeballos was some kind of slouch. Maybe they are right, though because now Nico has a break point. DEUCE! Whoa. Nicolas shrieked at the crowd for talking during that point. Yikes and more yikes. They are whistling at him, now. Uh oh. Back and forth at deuce a few times. Zeballos holds! Big game, that one.
Nico has all the time in the world with a slam and Zeballos actually manages to GET IT BACK IN AND SCORE A POINT, from practically the corner. Not the corner of the court, the one made by the WALLS. That one made Sportscenter, you guys. Almagro holds easily after that, though.
They each easily hold twice. They are now throwing in some long clay court slides with their crazy-ass serving. This match is the best.
Zeballos on serve 3 all and a big error makes it deuce. Then he double faults! Aw, that sucks.
Then holds all the way up, which means Nico takes it 6-3, 6-4.
GOOD JOB, DUDES. That was super fun.
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