Verdasco Prevails in Dramatic Win
By Clair Maciel
Monday, August 27, 2007
Fernando Verdasco of Spain weathered quite a test in his first-round
match against France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu. After finding himself down
two sets to none, Verdasco dug deep to turn the match around and pull
out a 3-6, 1-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 win and advance to the second round.
In his next match-up, unseeded Verdasco will face another Frenchman,
Gilles Simon, who advanced when Alexander Waske retired from his
first-round match Monday.
The match between Verdasco and Mathieu was a hard-fought baseline
battle in which both players ripped heavy groundstrokes on nearly
every point. Verdasco committed a crippling number of unforced errors
throughout the first two sets, while Mathieu had an easy time finding
the court for winners.
By the end of two sets, that momentum—as well as the crowd—began to
swing in Verdasco’s favor, and it was Mathieu who was spraying shots
outside the lines. His frustration with both himself and a few close
line calls caused Mathieu to lose his temper, throw his racket against
the back fence and later slam his racket on the ground.
Verdasco was ahead by as much as 5-1 in the third set before Mathieu
pushed it to 5-4, forcing the lefty Spaniard to serve out the set.
Then after four breaks of serve, Verdasco took the fourth set on
Mathieu’s serve to even the match.
A revitalized Verdasco came out firing at the start of the fifth,
jumping to a 4-1 lead and taking advantage of Mathieu’s increasing
number of errors. The most dramatic game, however, came with Verdasco
serving for the match at 5-3. Verdasco had match point at 40-15, but
Mathieu fought it off, along with four more, before Verdasco unloaded
two consecutive forehand down-the-line winners to take the match.
Verdasco’s quarter of the draw includes top-seed Roger Federer, as
well as big servers Andy Roddick, Tomas Berdych, Ivo Karlovic and John Isner.
Court 8 - Men's Singles - 1st Round
Fernando Verdasco ESP Winner 3 1 6 6 6
Paul-Henri Mathieu FRA (22) 6 6 4 3 3
Match Facts
- Verdasco is now 4-0 against Mathieu, each win on hard courts.
- Mathieu has won two titles this year, at Gstaad and Casablanca.
- Verdasco's best US Open finish was a fourth-round appearance in 2005.
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