Alexandr Dolgopolov battles past Juan Carlos Ferrero to reach the final – Studena Croatia Open 2011
Ukrainian tennis pro Alexandr Dolgopolov battled past Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero on Saturday to make it to the finals of 2011 ATP Studena Croatia Open in Umag. Dolgopolov has been in devastating form in the last week or so. The
man from Keiv is yet to drop a set in this tournament. He displayed some high quality tennis in the semi-final as he required only 1 hour and 25 minutes dispatching his opponent.
Seeded second at the Association of Tennis Professional tournament, Dolgopolov started off very confidently as he broke his opponent early in the opening set to dent his confidence levels. Ferrero, who is known for his “never say
die” attitude was also up for the challenge. Looking to get back into the first set, the Spanish broke Dolgopolov in fifth game of the set. He then held on to his next service game easily to even the game score 3-3.
Dolgopolov had his second break chance in ninth game of the set, which he converted a big forehand winner down the line to take a crucial 5-4 lead. He then held on to his advantage on his next service game to take pocket the opener
6-4.
The second set also followed a pretty similar trend as both players struggled to break each other. Ferrero put up a great fight to get in front but Dolgopolov concentrated on his own game play and converted one of the break points
to seal a superb victory.
"I played pretty well and did the right things," reflected Dolgopolov. "I managed to break up his rhythm and not play long points, so I’m happy with the way I played.
"I had lost four matches in a row in my last tournaments, so I was pretty nervous [at the start of the week], but I’ve been playing better and better and I’m happy with my game.
Although Dolgopolov fired nine vital serves aces in the match, the quality of his serving in general was not that great. The Ukrainian could hit only 42 per cent of his first serve to let his opponent take control of important
points on second serve. He will be looking for consistency in this department when he takes on Marin Cilic in the final. Cilic eased past Fognini 6-2, 6-2 to reach the final.
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