Rusedski claims Spadea scalp

14 April 2012

Greg Rusedski secured another morale-boosting victory today in the defence of his Nottingham Open title.

Rusedski defeated Vince Spadea 7-6, 4-6, 6-1 on centre court to book a third round clash with former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson.

It is only the second time this year Rusedski has won two matches in a row, although the other occasion was in a second tier Challenge event in Surbiton, and the first time he has recorded back-to-back wins on the ATP Tour since this event 12 months ago.

Rusedski had to save a match point in the second set of his opening match with Karol Kucera on Tuesday, but was never in the same danger despite losing the second set this afternoon.

The British number two did not face a single break point on his serve in the opening set and raced through the resulting tie-break 7-3 to delight the packed crowd.

But Rusedski seems to like doing things the hard way and he allowed Spadea to take the second set and level the match.

The 30-year-old had already saved one break point when a forehand error saw him facing two more, and this time he had no answer to Spadea's excellent low return at his feet.

The American, who beat Rusedski in the first round at Wimbledon in 2001 to end a 21-match losing streak, then served out without dropping a point to take the set 6-4 and send the match into a decider.

The fans were braced for another nerve-wracking climax but Rusedski was determined not to let this match slip away and secured an early break and a 3-0 lead.

Spadea held serve to reduce the deficit but Rusedski was not to be denied and quickly broke serve again before completing a heartening victory just days before Wimbledon gets underway at the All England Club.

Rusedski still needs more victories to avoid being overtaken in the world rankings by compatriot Arvind Parmar, despite Parmar's second round defeat to Victor Hanescu.