2011 Open 13: Ivan Ljubicic vs. Dmitry Tursunov – Preview
Playing each other after five years, top Croat Ivan Ljubicic takes on the rising Russian Dmitry Tursunov as they continue their run at the 2011 Open 13 in Marseille, France on Thursday.
Ranked 15th in the world, Ljubicic has had a good run on the tour so far. Not playing in any of the season openers, Ljubicic started his season at home, playing at the PBZ Zagreb Indoors. A top seed at the event, Ljubicic made it all the way to the quarterfinals before losing to eventual champion and compatriot, Ivan Dodig in straight sets.
Continuing immediately the next week, Ljubicic played at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament as the seventh seed. Moving past Sergiy Stakhovsky and Benoit Paire, Ljubicic made his way into the quarterfinals where he faced Marcos Baghdatis. Surviving a mid match lapse against the Cypriot, Ljubicic made his way into the semi-final round where he was ultimately ousted by eventual runner up, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Playing his third straight event on the tour, Ljubicic puts in his ninth participation in the event this week. Seeded fifth in the event, Ljubicic is a finalist here. Debuting in 2000, Ljubicic achieved his career best five years later in 2005 when he enjoyed a final run here. However, a loss to Swede Joachim Johansson in straight sets took the chance of a title win from his hands. Ljubicic’s last run here came in 2009 though he failed to move past the first round, losing to Feliciano Lopez.
Starting his campaign here this week, Ljubicic opened against Kazakh Andrey Golubev. Losing only six games, Ljubicic sailed on ahead into the second round.
As the Croat prepares to meet the Russian, Ljubicic stands at a level head-to-head score with the Russian. Having first met in the first round of the 2004 Australian Open, Ljubicic had dismissed the Russian in four sets. Two years later Tursunov outlasted the Croat in five sets at Wimbledon. Although Tursunov does hold a victory over Ljubicic, the Croat has never been beaten by the Russian on hard surface.
Although ranked out of the top 100, Tursunov has made some serious ripples recently. Successfully qualifying for the Rotterdam event last week after upsetting the qualifying top seed, Philipp Petzschner, Tursunov moved on into the second round after winning his opening clash against Golubev.
Tursunov had earlier won the Challenger tournament in Singapore after defeating Czech Lukas Rasol in the final match.
Coming to Marseille this week, Tursunov equalled his career best here after he successfully defeated Grigor Dimitrov in their opening clash. Tursunov engaged the Bulgarian in an enthralling three setter. Bouncing back from being one set down Tursunov recorded a 6-7(6), 7-5, 7-6(4) win to move on ahead in the event. Tursunov had earlier come here in 2009 but losing to Lopez failed to move on ahead in the event.
Prediction: Although the Russian has been showing some promise recently, the fact that Ljubicic stands undefeated on hard courts and ranks in the top 20, tip the odds considerably in the Croat’s favour.
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