Carreno Busta Continues Bid For London Spot In Paris

  • Posted: Nov 03, 2020

Pablo Carreno Busta kept his hopes of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals alive on Tuesday, as fellow London contender David Goffin’s bid was ended in the Rolex Paris Masters second round.

The Spaniard, who must win the tournament to extend his London qualification bid, won 87 per cent of first-serve points (26/30) to defeat Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6(3), 6-2. Qualifier Norbert Gombos brought Goffin’s London qualification attempt to an end with a 6-4, 7-6(6) triumph.

Carreno Busta improved to 19-11 this season with his fourth win in six ATP Head2Head matches against Struff. The World No. 15 has shown impressive form since the resumption of the ATP Tour in August, with a semi-final run at the US Open and a quarter-final finish at Roland Garros.

”My confidence was very high today,” said Carreno Busta. “I was serving really good, but I think the key was the first and the second balls after [the] return and after [the] serve. I think that I played very aggressive on these balls and I made a lot of winners from everywhere. I’m happy for the victory, because Jan-Lennard on this surface is a really tough guy.”

Carreno Busta will meet Gombos for a place in the quarter-finals. The World No. 105 defeated Carreno Busta in the pair’s only previous ATP Head2Head contest at the Open Sud de France in February.

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Gombos saved three set points in the second-set tie-break to earn the biggest win of his career against Goffin after one hour and 36 minutes. The Slovakian, who is through to the third round at a an ATP Masters 1000 event for the first time, saved four break points at 2-2 in the first set and began to dictate with aggressive groundstrokes.

The 39-minute opener, which ended with three straight service breaks, finished when Goffin hit a forehand long.The Belgian regrouped and came within one point of a 5-2 advantage in the second set, but Gombos rallied to win 10 of the next 13 points to put pressure back on the shoulders of the World No. 14. Goffin held firm and in the tie-break held three set points at 6/3, but three consecutive groundstroke errors put Gombos in the ascendancy.

The 30-year-old wrapped up his seventh tour-level win of the year when Goffin over-hit a forehand — his 46th unforced error. Goffin, who is currently No. 14 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, drops to a 12-11 match record in 2020.

Miomir Kecmanovic ended John Millman’s winning streak with a 6-4, 6-2 win on Court 1. The Serbian broke the Nur-Sultan champion’s serve on four occasions to book a second-round clash against fourth seed Alexander Zverev.

Vienna runner-up Lorenzo Sonego added to his recent run of form with a 6-1, 6-4 victory against Alexander Bublik. The Italian will face 16th seed Alex de Minaur in the second round.

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