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Gombos in great form

Monteiro was actually a very good preparation for Gombos's match against Samper-Montana as they're similar players. Unike the first match, the Spaniard is now the outsider and that's no accident. Gombos is playing great and his mistakes are very rare

After excellent performance in Padua where he reached the semifinals, Samper-Montana got three consecutive challenger defeats. That might not be such a surprise had he not been a huge favorite in last two matches. But he didn't justify this status and his match against Smirnov in the first round of Liberec was very important.

The Ukrainian passed the qualifications for the third week in a row and there is no doubt he was in a better rhythm of matches than the Spaniard. He opened the match that way as well. Even though he saved a break chance in the first game, Smirnov got the first break to take the lead by 1-4. But that's when the crucial thing of this set happened. The rain started and it stopped the match. After a one-hour break, the players returned to the court and the Ukrainian lost 8 games in a row after that. From 1-4, the Spaniard took the lead by 6-4 3-0 with a double break.

Of course, it seemed that the match was over, but the Ukrainian won four games in a row, got back in the match and then made a third break in the 12th game of the second set. Everyone expected Smirnov to use this momentum and play better but it didn't happen.

Samper-Montana showed that he's a better player. This didn't shake hum up, in fact, he immediately got a double break and took the 5-1 lead in the third period. Even though he lost one break en route to a win and was aware that he had a double break in the second set, Jordi didn't allow his opponent too much on his match serve. Even though the Ukrainian had 15-30, Samper-Montana won three points in a row and ended his negative run at the challenger level.



Now he's facing a much more difficult task in the form of Norbert Gombos. The Slovakian player is in great form and he's reached 3 finals, 1 semifinal and 1 quarterfinal in his last 5 challenger appearances. He started in a similar vein here in Liberec as he justified his status as the favorite against Monteiro, who's a much better player than his ranking would suggest.


The first set was a real walk in the park for the Slovakian player. Even though he had some problems in the first game and had to save a few break chances, he lost that one single game in that set.


The second set was a bit more exciting but he's shown that Gombos is in great form and that he's very confident. He was down by 2-5, Monteiro had the serve to draw things level but he failed in his attempt of reaching the third set. From 2-5, Gombos got 5 games in a row and got a win to confirm his good rhythm.


Monteiro was actually a very good preparation for Gombos's match against Samper-Montana as they're similar players. Unike the first match, the Spaniard is now the outsider and that's no accident. Gombos is playing great and his mistakes are very rare.