2011 Medibank International: Igor Andreev and Fredrico Gil continue ascent in the main draw
Having gained acceptance into the main draw on Sunday, qualifiers Igor Andreev and Fredrico Gil played their first round matches in the main draw on Monday, 10th Jan 2011. The two along with 28 other players are currently competing at the 2011 Medibank International
in Sydney this week.
Gil started play for the day on Monday when he played top Finn Jarkko Nieminen. The Portuguese had moved into the main draw after defeating Simon Greul in the qualifying round final. Playing a three setter, Gil bounced back from one set down to win the match
3-6, 6-3, 6-2. Playing Nieminen in the opening round, Gil opened serve and rushed into the lead to clinch the first set 6-2 striking only one ace and losing 8 of 26 points. Before the second set could start, Nieminen retired on account of a right knee injury
giving Gil an automatic win. Gil moves into the second round to play either Gilles Simon or eighth seed Yen-Hsun Lu.
Joining Gil in the second round was fellow qualifier Igor Andreev. After having exited the Brisbane International in the first round last week, Andreev played in the qualifying round for the Sydney event. Seeded eighth, Andreev moved past Karol Beck, Ricardos
Berankis and Andrej Martin with no set loss to secure a spot for himself in the main draw. Playing his fourth straight match at the event and first in the main draw, Andreev played Jeremy Chardy. Although, Chardy ranks higher than Andreev, the latter continued
his no set loss run to enjoy a comfortable straight set win over the French. Rushing into the lead in the opener, Andreev bagged the first set 6-2 before wrapping up the second set 6-4. In a match that lasted for seventy minutes, Andreev stuck four aces and
lost only seventeen of 56 points to move into the second round. Andreev moves ahead to meet third seed, Ernests Gulbis who received a bye into the second round.
In an unseeded battle, Sergiy Stakhovsky met and defeated Benjamin Becker in a straight, yet not so simple, sets victory. This was the pair’s second meeting on the court, their first having been in 2010 at the St. Petersburg event. Becker had defeated Stakhovsky
then to go 1-0 in the pair’s head to head score. Playing their opening match at the Sydney event, Stakhovsky was able to settle that score. Going head to head in both sets, neither player caught a break taking the sets into tiebreakers. However, Stakhovsky
was able to clinch victory winning the first tiebreaker 7-3 and the second 8-6. Stakhovsky struck eight aces and lost 25 of 80 points in almost two hours to secure a spot for himself in the second round. Stakhovsky will next play either 2008 finalist Chris
Guccione or seventh seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
Making his comeback to the ATP Tour, wildcard entrant Juan Martin Del Potro played his opening match against sixth seed Feliciano Lopez. After a hard fought battle with all three sets going into tiebreakers, Del Potro finally managed to move into the second
round registering 6(5)-7, 7-6(9), 7-6(3).
Del Potro now moves ahead to play Florian Mayer who secured a second round spot after doing away wildcard entrant James Ward. Committing no double faults and losing only fifteen of 49 points on service, Mayer was able to secure a straight set victory for
himself. Opening serve in the first set, Mayer and Ward went head to head for ten games before Mayer turned the tables to win the next eight consecutive games. Winning the first set 7-5, Mayer wrapped up the match with a perfect bagel set win in the second
set.
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