Golubev: victory in Hamburg and No.37 in ATP!

He is not Italian, but since 2002 he has been living and training in our country, that is in Bra, in the province of Cuneo and he wears Italian thanks to AUSTRALIAN.
He is Andrey Golubev, the extraordinary star of the German week, that saw him capture his first success in the major circuit without giving a set and showing, in the final match as well, an aggressive and winning attitude.

Across the net there was an old-fashioned Jurgen Melzer, timid and yielding as in the “good old days”, back from a series of excellent results (from the semi-final in Paris to the victory in double at Wimbledon) but paralysed by the compulsion to win.On his 23rd birthday the Russian (naturalized Kazakhstan in order to compete in Davis Cup) didn’t feel completely satisfied with his first victory against a Top10, against the number one of the tournament, Nikolay Davydenko.

Unlike his opponent, playing a final in an ATP tournament for the ninth time (with a bad budget, however: two victories and six defeats), Golubev was disputing just his second final in the major circuit (in his first final, in St. Petersburg, in 2008 he had lost against Murray).
Nevertheless he starts scoring two winning backhands, as to frighten the adversary and to communicate him his warlike intentions.Golubev’s defiant attitude, very effective at the service, doesn’t allow Melzer to be as aggressive as in the previous days against Starace and Seppi.In the eighth game at 4-3 for the Russian, the Austrian grants the first break point of the match and serves a Serve&Volley.The Russian’s backhand astonishes the Austrian, that gives the first partial with a score of 6-3, with just 5 points on the opponent’s service.

In the second game we expect the reaction of the Austrian.
The "crucial game" is played at 3-2 in his favour.Jurgen obtains 5 break points (the first 2 consecutive) but he can’t wrest the service of his opponent.The ghosts of the missed opportunities (particularly the two chances badly wasted at 15-40) reveal on 5-5.Three backhand errors make him fall back to 00-40.The serve&volley still betrays the number 15 in the ATP, that in the next game goes to 0-30, more for Goloubev’s demerit, but he then suffers the return of the Russian-Kazakh-Italian who scores 4 points in a row, the last of which (a winning service a little wide, not called out from the line judge) has been made repeated by the “chair empire” while the celebrations and the preparations for the ceremony have already beginning.

With this success Andrey, who until this week could boast as best ranking No.56 and in 2010 had won just 8 matches, bursts spectacularly in the Top40.

Paolo Lorenzi: Superb debut in Rome

One of those matches that can be seen only at the Foro Italico.Paolo Lorenzi, at the beginning disadvantaged against the Spanish specialist Albert Montanes, remounts a set of disadvantage and wins a thrilling match : 2-6 6-4 6-3.

As soon as Paolo closes the last volèe, the public explodes in a standing ovation that lasts several minutes.This is the summarizing image of a match that gave strong emotions.A victory that will live long in the memory of the many fans who crowded the stands not only of the Field 6, but also of the adjacent Field 5 of the Foro Italico.

At the beginning the match follows the prediction and the gap in the ranking (no.96 the Italian, no.29 the Spanish) with a 3-0 that soon became 6-2, leaving no great hope.
But Paolo didn’t upset: on the progress shown at the end of the first half points he has built an extraordinary second set.After a first break, he placed on 4-4 a second and decisive break, closing the partial immediately after.

As expected, the third set soon turned into a fight.It is just in this situation with the public inciting him, that Lorenzi can show all his qualities.After an initial exchange of breaks, they even the score 3-3.This delicate 7th game was nothing more than a true concentrate of the qualities that the Italian player has succeeded in improving in these last years: legs, heart, a forehand of high level and a new willingness to net, both spectacular and effective.
All this enabled him to gain a crucial break, that he confirmed after the change of field.The momentum gained permitted him to close the match already in the next game to great delight of all his fans.This is for Paolo the second victory on the major circuit, the first in a 1000 Masters.