Henrique Rocha, the only Portuguese still competing in the Faro Open, was eliminated in the quarterfinals of this tennis competition, this Friday, the 24th, by the American Martin Damm.
After nine consecutive victories, the 18-year-old Mayato youth (ranked 854th in the ATP ranking) conceded by partials of 2-6, 6-1 and 6-4 to Martin Damm, a 19-year-old tennis player who is ranked 446th. table position.
«Crossing the best phase of his still short career, Rocha started the match very aggressively and managed to exploit the greatest weaknesses of the North American from the bottom line. But the reaction was practically immediate and from the first moments of the second half, Damm took advantage of a particularly aggressive service stroke to balance the arm wrestling match», according to the event organizers.
The match “ended with the most balanced of the three partials, which was resolved with a single service break in the fifth game. With some movement difficulties, Rocha gave up on the pain in one foot and the fatigue accumulated over the last two weeks and even threatened the counter break to 3-4, the last opportunity before the exchange of balls, but the North American saved the best of his service for when he needed it most and, with three aces and a winning service, he left two double faults behind and held the advantage».
In the last game of the meeting «the young Portuguese still had another opportunity, but with new balls Damm resisted and effusively celebrated the victory».
Sidelined after 1h57, Henrique Rocha suffered the first defeat in the last 10 meetings — he arrived at this tournament with the first trophy of his career, won in Vila Real de Santo António — and concluded his performance in the Faro Open, which ran out of Portuguese.
As for Martin Damm, he will face Lucas Poullain in the semi-finals. A day after pushing Pedro Sousa away, the Frenchman (currently 849th and runner-up in the tournament in 2021) overcame compatriot François Musitelli (1427th) by 6-2 and 6-3.
In the opposite half of the table, the vacancy in the singles decision will be discussed between the Frenchman Timo Legout (494th) and the Czech Michael Vrbensky (364th). The former overcame Imanol Lopez Morillo 6-3 6-3, the latter defeated August Holmgren 7-6(5) 7-6(6).
The singles semi-finals will start at 10:30 am. Then, never before 14 pm, the doubles final will be discussed between four French players: Lucas Poullain and Clement Tabur, who defeated Matej Vocel and Michael Vrbensky by 30-1, 6-6 and 1-10, and Antoine Hoang and Gregoire Jacq , responsible for the removal of August Holmgren and Christian Sigsgaard by the partials of 6-6 and 2-6.
O Faro Open is organized by the Tennis and Padel Center of Faro between the 19th and 26th of February with the support of the Municipality of Faro and the Portuguese Tennis Federation.
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