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Spanish tennis star Pablo Carreno Busta admitted he lost a bit of his level after easily winning the first set against fellow compatriot Albert Ramos-Vinolas but he was happy that he managed to get through it and clinch a win.
Carreno Busta, seeded at No. 1, edged out fourth-seeded Ramos-Vinolas in a tight clash 6-1 3-6 7-6 (5) to reach the Marbella final. “It was so close. I don’t know what happened in the second set,” Carreno Busta said in an on-court interview.
“At the beginning of the match, I was very focussed on my game and being aggressive. After that, Albert of course started to push [back] more and [I] started to lose my level a little bit. “I just kept fighting all the time, and I want to thank everyone [in the crowd] for their support.
This is what we missed last year, the crowd. It’s very important to play these kinds of very close matches with a crowd like this”.
Carreno Busta was facing a defeat
Carreno Busta made a fast start to the match, having claimed back-to-back breaks to take an early 5-0 first-set lead.
Ramos-Vinolas got on the board in the sixth game to reduce the deficit to 5-1, before Carreno Busta served out for the opener in the following game. Carreno Busta was threatening to start the second set with a break as well but Ramos-Vinolas saved three break points in the opening game.
Ramos-Vinolas then earned his first break of the match in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead. Ramos-Vinolas then held on to his serve the rest of the set to force a decider. Ramos-Vinolas started the third set with an early break but failed to serve out for the match in the 10th game.
In the tie-break, Ramos-Vinolas saved two consecutive match points before Carreno Busta realized his third match point to earn a tight win.