2011 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament: Ivan Ljubicic survives early scare
Number one Croat tennis star, Ivan Ljubicic broke his three year curse at Rotterdam today when he made it into the second round of the 2011 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament,
on Tuesday.
Playing in his ninth year here, seventh seeded Ljubicic started his campaign at the event playing the unseeded Ukrainian, Sergiy Stakhovsky. This was the pair’s third meeting
on the court, with the Croat extending the lead in the head-to-head score to 2-1. The pair had last met at the AEGON Championships in 2009 with Ljubicic emerging as the victor. A straight sets victory today puts the Croat on a two-match winning streak over
the Ukrainian.
The first set saw the two professionals closely matched with neither player catching a break. Winning games on their service, the set was pushed into a tie-breaker. However,
holding the Ukrainian to five points, Ljubicic was able to clinch a 7-3 win in the tiebreaker going one up in the set score.
The second set saw major dominance from the Croat. Although he served a meagre 44% on first serve as opposed to Stakhovsky’s 56%, Ljubicic managed a winning percentage of
91% on his first serves. Successfully converting one of four break opportunities, Ljubicic was able to clinch a 6-3 victory in the second set.
In a match that lasted almost two hours, Ljubicic hit five aces, lost only 21 of 72 points on service and successfully converted one of seven break opportunities to secure
a straight sets victory for himself.
Ljubicic moves on ahead in the event to play qualifier Benoit Paire or former World Number 6, Gilles Simon.
A two time finalist here, Ljubicic had two unsuccessful final runs here in 2005 and 2007. The first final here in 2005, Ljubicic had fought his way through gruelling three
setters only to be ousted by Roger Federer. The second time around in 2007, Ljubicic lost to Mikhail Youzhny in straight sets. Hoping for the third time to be the charm, Ljubicic looks towards a title win here in order to make it back into the top ten.
Tags: