Pella d Bedene in three in Umag

Of the second round matches contested around the place, the pick of the bunch for me was Guido Pella v Aljaz Bedene in Umag.

Pella, ranked 72, and Bedene 81, were both unseeded, yet contested a high quality match.

In the opening set Pella found it difficult to win points on the effective Bedene first serve which only released three of nineteen to Guido.  Bedene did well on his second serve too, capturing eight of eleven points available. Although Pella was winning less on his first and second deliveries, he still managed to do sufficiently well to hold serve throughout the initial ten games. 

Two break points came in the next game, and one was enough for Bedene to crack Pella and then consolidate with a service hold to lead 7-5.

Set two began with three breaks of serve, a departure from set one where just a single break point showed its face.  When Bedene served s love game to lead 3-1, things appeared dim for Pella.  Worse when he dropped serve after saving seven break points in game five which went to deuce no fewer than nine times.

Then a sudden momentum shift saw Pella win five straight games and the set 6-4.  Points won on serve by both were abysmal for the set, but worse for Bedene who lost his way completely. However, the good returning had much to do with this change in fortune.

In the decider, service breaks were exchanged and games were 4-4.  

Pella, who had been pressuring the Bedene second serve, broke to love when Bedene was serving at 4-5 to stay in the match.

Pella won his way into the quarter finals 5-7 6-4 6-4.

Other Umag second round results:

Dusan Lajovic defeated Albert Ramos-Viñolas 6-3 1-6 6-0

Laslo Djere defeated Maximilian Marterer (9) 7-6(4) 6-3

Marco Cecchinato (3) defeated Jiri Vesely 2-6 7-5 7-5

Bastad:

Qualifier Simone Bolelli defeated Diego Schwartzman (1) 7-6(8) 6-3

Lucky loser in qualifying Henri Laaksonen defeated Matteo Berrettini 6-2 6-2

Fernanda Verdasco (5) defeated Pedro Sousa 6-3 6-2

Pablo Carreño Busta (2) defeated Thiago Monteiro 6-4 6-3

Newport:

Adrian Mannarino (1) defeated Jordan Thompson 6-2 7-6(4)

Marcel Granollers defeated Gilles Müller (6) 7-5 7-6(4)

Steve Johnson (3) defeated Christian Harrison 6-3 6-1

Dudi Sela defeated Ivo Karlovic 7-6(6) 6-7(4) 6-2

Wildcard Jason Jung defeated Nicolas Mahut 6-4 6-4

Tim Smyczek defeated Matthew Ebden (4) 6-3 6-3

Ramkumar Ramanathan defeated Denis Kudla (8) 4-6 6-3 6-4

Vasek Pospisil defeated Mischa Zverev (2) 4-6 6-3 7-5

Bucharest:

Anastasija Sevastova (1) defeated Arantxa Rus 6-1 7-5

Polona Hercog (8) defeated qualifier Irina Bara 7-5 6-2

Yafan Wang defeated Pauline Parmentier (7) 7-6(0) 3-0 (retired)

Mihaela Buzarnescu (2) defeated Tamara Zidansek 6-3 7-5

Gstaad:

Marketa Vondrousova defeated Elitsa Kostova 6-4 6-4

Evgeniya Rodina defeated Mona Barthel 6-4 2-6 7-5