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Albert Ramos-Vinolas of Spain beat second seed Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia 6-2, 6-3 in the semi-final of the Swiss Open in Gstaad on Saturday (July 22). The 35-year-old Spaniard cruised to victory over his much younger opponent in less than two hours and set up a showdown with Argentina's Pedro Cachin in the final on Sunday.
Two unseeded players have thus reached the final of the tournament and both of them are looking in good touch and it should be an interesting final.
On that note, let us take a look at two things that stood out in the match.
#1. Albert Ramos-Vinolas defended and hit his backhand really well in the 1st set
Miomir Kecmanovic tried to put pressure on Albert Ramos-Vinolas with his aggressive strokeplay in the first set. However, to his credit, the Spaniard defended really well by moving swiftly along the baseline. It forced Kecmanovic to play some high-risk down-the-line shots and the Serb hit some of them wide.
However, it was Kecmanovic who got a break of serve in the first game of the match. Still, Ramos-Vinolas broke back in the subsequent game to level the score and then won four consecutive games to win the first set.
The Spaniard hit quite a few winners off his backhand in the set and exhibited an ability to hit well off either wing.
#2. The two players kept exchanging breaks in the 2nd set
Miomir Kecmanovic rushed the net more often in the second set and also used the drop shot occasionally to shake things up. Still, Albert Ramos-Vinolas managed to keep his nose in front and broke the Serb in the second game of the second set to go 2-0 up.
He then broke Kecmanovic again to extend his lead to 5-1. However, Kecmanovic then broke back in the subsequent game and held his serve to reduce the deficit to 3-5. Ramos-Vinolas then served the match out without much difficulty to book a place in the final.
Kecmanovic was able to win 50% and 35% of the points on his first and second serves respectively and was broken six times.
Ramos-Vinolas will now be eyeing his first title in 2023, but Cachin might prove to be a difficult obstacle. However, the Spaniard's impressive performance in the semi-final will give him much confdence ahead of the summit clash and he will fancy his chances in the final.
