Carreño Busta blasts Almagro

Pablo Carreño Busta knocked defending champion Nicolas Almagro out of Millennium Estoril Open 6-2 6-4 revenging his defeat to his compatriot in last year’s final.

Pablo Carreño Busta knocked defending champion Nicolas Almagro out of Millennium Estoril Open 6-2 6-4 revenging his defeat to his compatriot in last year’s final.

In the first match of the day, whose start was delayed by one hour in order for the court to dry, the first seed Spaniard coped better with the challenging conditions of strong wind and raced to seal the win in just 70 minutes.

Carreño Busta got the break early in the first set and Almagro never recovered, the 31-year-old Spaniard, never looked at ease and the errors started piling up for the Murcian. 23 minutes into the match Carreño Busta found himself up a set and in control of the match.

In the set set Almagro raised his level and had a total of six break points, however he could only convert one of those.

Carreño Busta took his time in the rallies and focused on just keeping the ball in play, a strategy that worked to perfection as Almagro took increasingly more risks and upped his unforced errors tally.

In the end Carreño Busta held his nerve and won, becoming the first semi-finalist and leveling the head-to-head with Almagro at one victory each.