By Chris Oddo | Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Dustin Brown notched another big upset on Wednesday in Hamburg, saving two match points en route to a 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(8) victory.
Photo Source: Bet at Home Open
Dustin Brown has pulled yet another thrilling upset over a Spaniard.
A month after absolutely pummeling Rafael Nadal in straight sets on grass in Hamburg, Brown notched a thrilling 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(8) upset over 9th-seeded Fernando Verdasco at the Bet at Home Open in Hamburg, Germany.
Video: Dustin Brown and Rafael Nadal Take a Tumble on the Same Point
After forcing a deciding set, Brown claimed the initial break in the decider, only to see a resilient Verdasco break back.
In the third-set tiebreaker, Verdasco had a match point at 6-5 on his serve, and another at 6-7 with Brown serving. Brown held his nerve, earning his first match point at 8-7 after two big serves.
Verdasco would save the first but after the Spaniard tossed in an ill-timed double fault at 8-all, Brown lashed a service winner to clinch the upset.
Brown improves to 11-10 on the season with five top 50 wins, including the triumph over world No. 1 Nadal and an upset over then-world No. 9 John Isner.
The German has seen vast improvement in his game since 2013, when he went 2-3 at the tour-level with both his wins coming during a run to Wimbledon’s third round.
It wasn’t the only upset on Wednesday at Hamburg. Seven seeds fell in total, as defending champion and 2nd-seeded Fabio Fognini (l. Krajinovic), 5th-seeded Mikhail Youzhny (l. Zverev), 10th-seeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (l. Mayer), 13th-seeded Federico Delbonis (l. Kamke), 14th-seeded Joao Sousa (l. Rosol) and 15th-seeded Carlos Berlocq (l. Lajovic) were all bundled up and shipped out of the draw along with Verdasco.