Alex Bogomolov Jr. battles past Marinko Matosevic into the main draw – Rogers Cup 2011
Top seed Alex Bogomolov Jr. of USA survived the scare in the second set to beat tenth seed Marinko Matosevic of Australia in three sets 7-6(0), 4-6, 6-3 in the final qualifier at the Rogers Cup in Montreal on Sunday. The American
took two hours and 24 minutes to win a marathon match.
Matosevic drew the first blood as he broke the American in the second game of the first set and consolidated on it to grab a 3-0 lead. Bogomolov Jr. opened his account, holding his serve in the fourth game and breaking back in
the fifth game to reduce the deficit to 2-3. Matosevic and Bogomolov Jr. broke each other in the next two games to take the score at 4-3 in favour of the former. The Australian and the American held their serve in the next five games to take the set to a tie-break.
Bogomolov Jr. destroyed his opponent in the tie-break as he did not drop any point to win it 7-0.
The American kept his first serve percentage at 68 percent and hit six aces in the first set. The 28-year-old saved two of the four break points he faced and capitalised on two of the six break point opportunities he created on
Matosevic’s serve in the opening set.
Matosevic started the second set strongly as he broke Bogomolov Jr. in the opening game to take a 1-0 lead but he was broken back immediately to level the score at 1-1. The Australian broke again in the third game and this time
he succeeded in winning his next service game to take a 3-1 lead. Matosevic capitalised on the break of serve and won the set 6-4.
The 26-year-old had mixed service performance in the second set. Matosevic committed three double faults and delivered just 38 percent of the first serves. The Australian, however, fired four aces and won a whopping eleven of the
fifteen first service points in the second set.
Matosevic was looking to seal the match quickly as he broke the American straightaway in the third set and held his serve in the next game to go up 2-0. However, Bogomolov Jr. bounced back and claimed five games in a row to take
a 5-2 lead. The Australian held his serve in the eighth game to take the score to 3-5 but could break Bogomolov Jr. in the next game, losing the set 3-6.
Bogomolov Jr. will take on Adrian Mannarino of France in the first round of the main draw.
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