Albert Ramos stuns Marin Cilic in first round matchup – Shanghai Rolex Masters 2011
A stunning result was witnessed in the opening round of the Shanghai Rolex Masters, as the world number 22, Marin Cilic of Croatia, crashed out of the tournament at the hands of the 77th ranked Spaniard, Albert Ramos, on Tuesday afternoon.
The Spanish qualifier stunned everyone present at the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena in Shanghai, China, as he outplayed Croatia’s number one tennis player in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, to make it to the second round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Masters Series event.
Having a couple of tough calls in the qualifying draw of the tournament, Ramos carried on his winning impetus in the main round as well. His game play was simply magnificent, giving absolutely no chance to the 22nd ranked Croat to get on top of the matchup. Ramos raced through the sets by keeping the games short and professional to register his 13th victory of the running season in one hour and twenty six minutes.
Dropping seven points on his serve, Ramos secured 24 points in reply to Cilic’s 22 to come out as the winner. The 23-year-old Spaniard converted half of his six break opportunities to drive his Croatian opponent out of the competition and marched into the next stage of the in an assertive fashion.
Finalist in the China Open this Sunday, Cilic utterly failed to put up a decent performance with his racquet on Tuesday afternoon. The 22nd ranked Croat appeared in all sorts of confusion right from the beginning and never appeared in command of his game throughout the contest. Cilic suffered his first jolt of the day in the fourth game, when the Spanish opponent broke his serve to race away to a 4-1 lead early in the matchup. Ramos held his lead to pocket the opening set at 6-3, getting one up in the contest.
Poor slump of Cilic continued in the following set as well, as he dropped his serve in the very first game to fall back on 0-2. He finally registered his only break point of the match in the fourth game to come back on even terms but another serve break wound up the contest for Ramos at 6-4, ending Cilic’s voyage in Shanghai.
A tougher challenge waits Ramos in the next round, as he will compete against the world number 18, Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine, for a place in the third round of the Shanghai Masters. 12th seed Dolgopolov was successful against the unseeded Lukasz Kubot from Poland in straight sets 6-4, 7-6(6), in the opening round on Tuesday.
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