Notícia

BARBOSA AND TATANI SURPRISE IN CHILE

Por CBTM

Jose Barbosa and Lucas Tatani of Brazil were the players to cause both the biggest surprise and the biggest comeback on the opening day of play, Thursday 8th March 2007, at the Chile Junior Open in Viña del Mar.

They recovered from a two matches to nil deficit to defeat second seeds, Australia's Trent Carter and Paraguay's Marcelo Aguirre at the quarter-final stage of the Boys' Team event.

It was a contest that started badly for the Brazilians but ended with joy.

Bad Start
Trent Carter beat Jose Barbosa in straight games and Marcelo Aguirre overcame Lucas Tatani by the very narrowest of five game margins to establish a two matches to nil lead; a lead was not to be converterd into victory.

However, the Brazilians won an equally close doubles to reduce the arrears, Lucas Tatani then accounted for Trent Carter in straight games leaving the scene set for Marcelo Aguirre and Jose Barbosa to determine the outcome.

In the third duel of the contest that went the full five games distance the Brazilian prevailed and as in the other two five game contests, the verdict was determined by a mere two points.

Tide Turns
The Brazilians were so close to a three matches to nil defeat but when Lucas Tatani beat Trent Carter in straight games in the fourth match of the contest the tide started to turn. Furthermore, the Brazilian won comfortably against the young man who had captured the Boys' Singles crown the previous week in Venezuela.

"The type of game he plays suits me, I'm a penholder and I think that helped; it was important that I played fast", said Lucas Tatani. "I know he has medium length pimples on his backhand but that didn't cause me too many problems, I'm used to playing against pimples in training in Brazil."

Not Calm
Success against Trent Carter at a vital stage of the proceedings but against Marcelo Aguirre it had been a close five games defeat. "I had a really good chance to beat him", reflected Lucas Tatani. "In the fifth game I led 5-1 but lost 12-10. I didn't stay calm and I should just have kept going."

No doubt he's learnt from the experience but the fact that after suffering defeat he came back to record an impressive win bodes well for the future.

Pressure Match
Similarly for Jose Barbosa, having lost to Trent Carter, he recovered to win the pressure match against Marcelo Aguirre and thus brought victory to Brazil.

"He played from the heart", said Lucas Tatani. "He played really well; it was a really good result to beat Marcelo." Considering the situation it was a very good result, the boys had given heart and soul and perhaps the fact that they have different styles of play was a contributory factor. Jose Barbosa is a shakehands grip play whilst Lucas Tatani uses the penhold grip.

It was a thrilling encounter, the `Match of the Day'; from the very precipice of defeat the Brazilians recovered to record a memorable three matches to two victory and a place in the semi-finals.