Jacob Fearnley took advantage of a “lucky loser” entry into the Barcelona tennis Open to defeat Spanish No 4 Roberto Carballes Baena 6-1, 7-5.
The British No2, from Buckstone had been resigned to missing out on this top event and heading to a Challenger at Aix-en-Provence when he was beaten in the second qualifying round by higher ranking Colombian, Daniel Galan, in two tight sets.
However, the late withdrawal of Australian Jordan Thompson saw Jacob granted a reprieve and he didn’t look back in booking a last 16 place against either world No 7 Alex De Mineur (Australia) or No 46 Tomas Etcheverry (Argentina). There is also the not insignificant matter of a guaranteed 40,726 euros prize.
Commentators described Fearnley’s first set performance as a “whirlwind” and when his standards dropped to go two breaks behind in the second set at 2-5 it was then his good fortune that Carballes Baena needed a treatment time out for what appeared a groin problem.
When the Spaniard returned to court he found himself on the receiving end of a calculated, measured performance from Fearnley who re-introduced himself with a 32 shot rally- just the thing to test out a troubled rival.
Fearnley still had to retain focus though and he did so with aplomb, breaking Carballes Baena to love in the last game of a match played over two hours as he looked extremely comfortable on the clay surface thanks to a powerful serve and flat, angled ground shots.
Earlier in the tournament Fearnley had won his opening qualifying match against Leo Borg, son of Bjorn, the multiple major champion who was watching in the stands.
Now comes a major giant killing opportunity with the promised ranking points for today’s win over an opponent listed at No 59 to Fearnley’s No 74 pushing him closer to the top 50.
Evergreen sports journalist. Previously published in many publications around the world. Send me your local sports stories. billlothian1008@gmail.com
