Aljaz Bedene trounces Goran Tosic in the qualifiers – Serbia Open 2012
Qualifying third seed, Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia, dumped Montenegro’s Goran Tosic in straight sets at the Serbia Open 2012 on Sunday. He penned down a 7-6(4), 6-3 success against the veteran to advance into the final qualifying round at this outdoor clay
court event taking place in Belgrade, Serbia.
The Slovenian star warded off early resilience to overpower his opponent in almost two hours in their first meeting. He dominated throughout the match to progress into the final round of the qualifying competition at this ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals)
World Tour 250 series event.
Bedene made a slow start at the SRPC Milan Gale Muskatirovic and suffered the first blow in the sixth game to go 2-5 down. However, he remained in the game and recovered in the ninth game to impose a tie-breaker. The Slovene edged past his rival in it and
clinched the opener with a 7-6(4) score line. He spilled more double faults but fired six aces to neutralise the effect.
Ranked 156th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Bedene lost his path towards the second set and gifted away his serve in the opening game to trail at 0-1. However, he quickly counterattacked and recovered in the very next game.
Bedene then maintained consistency in his game and not only swiped in remaining serves but got the breakthrough in the sixth game to seal the set with a 6-3 win. The Slovene showed amazing defensive skills and blocked six out of seven breakpoints he faced.
He capitalised on two out of six break chances to earn the fame.
Next up for Bedene is the local challenger, Ilija Bozoljac, who tumbled over his compatriot, Nikola Cacic, in straight sets to set-up this battle. The 26-year-old Serb exchanged a single serve break to formulate a 7-6(2), 7-6(3) success in two hours and
seven minutes.
The qualifying top seed, Rajeev Ram, got unlucky later that day. He was trailing 0-3 when he suffered severe pain and was forced to pull out from the professional tennis. The American withdrew just after seven minutes from the start of the match.
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