Not only was the Chilean No. 11 playing against a hard-hitting American eager to reach the third round at the Open for the first time, but he had to do it in front of a largely pro-Reynolds crowd and fight his way through a minor ankle injury sustained early in the second set.
Though Reynolds pushed Gonzalez early in the first set, neither the one-sided crowd nor the brief injury seemed to phase the Chilean, as he cruised to a straight-sets win, 7-6(6), 6-4, 6-4. His next test will be against Finland's Jarkko Nieminen, who came back from two sets down to win in five over Ivo Minar.
Both players held serve through the first four games before Gonzalez cracked in the fifth to put the American up 3-2. But Gonzalez got a lucky break in the following game when a backhand up the middle clipped the top of the net and slid past the racquet of a net-rushing Reynolds for 3-3.
From then on, the players exchanged powerful groundstrokes in baseline rallies before the first set tiebreak. Two line-grazing backhand shots from Gonzalez and a Reynolds service return that sailed long put the Chilean up 6-2.
Reynolds surged back to win the next four points on Gonzalez errors and two forehand crosscourt winners, which of course had the crowd in an uproar and pulling for the American to steal the first set. But Gonzalez quieted the crowds to close it out on the next two points, 8-6.
Gonzalez's injury scare came early in the second set when, at 0-1, 0-15 down, a crosscourt backhand from Reynolds was called wide. As soon as Gonzalez heard the call, he tried to stop mid-run but took a bad step, rolling his left ankle. The Chilean immediately called the trainer to have his ankle taped up, and Reynolds challenged the call, which was overturned when the replay showed that the shot caught the line.
By the time play resumed, Gonzalez's ankle appeared to be fine, but he couldn't dig himself out of the 0-30 deficit and was soon broken. Reynolds held to take a 3-0 lead, but it was Gonzalez who stormed back to win the next five games with a barrage of winners (he would finish the match with 40 winners). He eventually closed it out on his serve at 5-4, 40-0 after unloading on two consecutive forehand winners.
Gonzalez's willingness to charge the net and pressure Reynolds proved successful for him, as did his strategy to consistently pull the American wide on the forehand side to open up the court for a volley putaway.
By the third set, Reynolds' unforced errors became more frequent, and he quickly found himself down a break at 5-3. An ace from Gonzalez in the final game, followed by a few unforced errors from Reynolds, ended the match in Gonzalez's favor after two hours and six minutes of play.
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