Sweden’s Joachim Johansson was dispatched in straight sets by Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci in the quarterfinals in Stockholm.
Thomaz Bellucci may be ranked much higher than Joachim Johansson, but he was not favored to win their quarterfinal matchup. The Brazilian is a clay-courter first and foremost. He has never been able to perform well on faster surfaces, and certainly not on the speedy indoor courts at the year’s end.
Johansson is the oft-injured though well-loved Swede with the booming first serve. At his peak, “Pim-Pim” was a brilliant hard courter, who was capable of beating American Andy Roddick at the US Open. Now, however, Johansson is a shadow of the player he was earlier this decade. Years of struggling with a shoulder injury and the subsequent time off has heavily hampered Johansson’s comeback efforts.
The first set of the match was as tight as it could be. Neither man had a whiff at a service break. This fact was alarming especially for Johansson, because Bellucci is not known as a big server. The set progressed to a tiebreaker, where Bellucci managed to snag a minibreak immediately off an errant Johansson forehand. On set point at 6-4, Johansson missed a backhand volley.
The second set was all about Bellucci. The Brazilian got an early break at 2-1 to take the lead. Johansson played clutch tennis at 4-1, fighting off 2 break points with big serving. The Swede had one chance to earn the break of serve back at 4-2, but he shanked a second serve return and Bellucci was able to hold. Johansson had a small chance at 15-30 on Bellucci's final service game, but the Brazilian won 3 straight points for the victory.
Bellucci advances to the semifinals, where he will play Olivier Rochus, who triumphed over Jarkko Nieminen in three.
In cooperation with Tennistalk.
