Pedro Martínez fell like a true gladiator this Wednesday in his debut at the Masters 1,000 in Rome. The Spaniard, who faced the Portuguese Nuno Borges in one of the most even duels in the first round (the Spaniard is 51st in the ATP ranking and the Portuguese 53rd), ended up falling in three sets 6-7 (3), 6-4 and 7-6 (8) after a fierce battle of almost four hours, specifically three hours and 38 minutes and an agonizing third set that lasted one hour and 38 minutes.
A match in which both Borges and Martínez were intractable with their serve in the first set and where Martínez, who saved a set point at 5-4 and serve, was more accurate in the tie-break to win 6-7 (3). The script was repeated in the second set until, in the tenth game, Borges broke Martínez’s serve to take the set 6-4 and force the third set.
A third round in which there were very disputed points and where Borges took the lead with a break in the sixth game but suffered a counterbreak after Martínez’s insistence in the following game. Borges broke again and had match point with serve in favor at 5-4, although Martínez managed to rally again to take the set to a tie-break. A tiebreaker that was truly crazy, since Martínez went to 1-4, saved another match point at 6-5 and did not take advantage of two match point options so that, in the end, Borges closed the match by 10- 8 in the decisive tie-break after three hours and 38 minutes of play. Borges will face Kazakh Alexander Bublik in the second round.
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