05.06.2018 16:12:30 | The match of Pablo Cuevas and the domestic player Adam Pavlásek was the hit of the first round. The Uruguayan, who had advanced to the fourth round in Indian Wells and Madrid this year, was the favourite. However, the Czech player showed a great improvement over the recent weeks and has been ridding the winning wave. Having won the Challenger in Rome and advanced from the qualification to the second round in Paris, he jumped by more than a hundred positions in a three weeks’ time.
“Considering the recent results, I cannot have small goals. I want to get back to the top hundred and play Grand Slams,“ said Pavlásek. Both players regularly saved their serves in the first set. The set was only decided in a tiebreak in which the Uruguayan made two errors and Pavlásek won it 7:3. The second set was exactly the same, following the recipe of the first one. It was also decided in a tiebreak. Pavlásek had a great start and was leading 5:0. Cuevas reduced the lead to 4:5, but Pavlásek did not let the valuable victory go.
“The match was decided by the serve and I think mine was better then the opponent’s. The Centre Court here in Prostějov is very fast and if your serve works well, the opponent does not have many changes to get into the match. That was my case, Cuevas didn’t have a single breakpoint. I showed a solid performance today,“ said Pavlásek. Was he afraid of such a strong opponent in the first round? “Actually, it was probably better to meet such a quality opponent right in the first round. He came from Paris and he didn’t yet get used to a different environment, different court and different balls. I was also a bit lucky, but it is tennis. I kept calm and managed to advance,“ said the player from Prostějov.
