Alexandr Dolgopolov downs Fabio Fognini to enter quarters – VEGETA Croatia Open 2012
Third seed, Alexandr Dolgopolov, tumbled the Italian star, Fabio Fognini, in straight sets at the VEGETA Croatia Open 2012 on Thursday. He nudged up a 6-2, 6-4 victory against the world number 63 to book a place in the final eight at this ATP World Tour
250 series event taking place in Umag, Croatia.
The Ukrainian number one showed his true colours at the Croatian dirt and carved out the victory in his second encounter against Fognini. The contestants last met each other at the St. Petersburg ATP event in Russia two years ago and after earning this limelight,
Dolgopolov improved to a 2-0 lifetime in the head-to-head series against the 25-year-old.
Dolgopolov high-spiritedly entered ITC Stella Maris and held his serve in the second game to level the scores at 1-1. After Fognini held his serve in the third game, the Ukrainian went on a five-game killing spree and sealed the opener with a 6-2 win. The
Ukrainian swiped his entire serves without facing any breakpoint and cashed in both break chances to inch towards the glory.
Ranked 19th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Dolgopolov maintained his intensity in the following set and got the desiderated break in the opening game to take the initial lead. He then warded off both breakpoints he came
across and plucked his entire serves, eventually sealing the set by winning six games to four.
All in all, Dolgopolov clobbered a poor first serve share of 54 per cent as compared to his rival’s 69 per cent but impressively marked 24 out of 30 points on it. He spilled no double fault and ended the match with 65 points.
Next up for Dolgopolov is fifth seeded Carlos Berlocq who rallied past his compatriot, Marco Trungelliti, in a three-set thriller to set up this battle.
The top seed, Fernando Verdasco, also earned the glory later that day. The Spaniard overpowered Latvia’s Ernests Gulbis with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 score line in two hours and five minutes. He was broken twice but cashed in five out of 18 break chances to progress
at this clay event.
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