Andreas Seppi bounces over Ivan Dodig in the first round – Moselle Open 2012
Ranked 28th in the South African Airways ATP Singles Rankings, Andreas Seppi prevailed over the Croatian native, Ivan Dodig, in the first round of the Moselle Open 2012. The Italian summed up his 6-7(7), 6-3, 6-4 win in a total of two hours and 24 minutes on Wednesday.
Previously, the duo contested against one another twice and Seppi marked his 3-0 lead in the head-to-head series. At the Serbia Open 2012 held at Belgrade, the Italian senior marked his straight sets victory 6-4, 6-2 in the second round.
The 28-year-old Italian took off a steady start in the opener and broke his rival’s serve to secure a 2-love lead. However, the Croatian broke Seppi’s serve in the fourth game and evened out the scores to 2-all. Both the players continued to oscillate the lead by repeatedly breaking each other’s serves and levelling the score line four times. After a close set tie-break, Dodig gave a shocker to his rival by a 7-6(7) score.
In the second set, the winning order reversed. The right-hander Italian professional broke took off a flying start and dissolved his rival’s first serve to clinch a 3-love lead. The 27-year-old, Dodig broke his competitors serve in the fifth game and in the very next game evened out the scores to 3-all. This aroused a threatening situation for the Italian and he nudged forward and successively grabbed the last three games in a series, marking the set closure with 6-3 score line.
In the decider, both the players were unable to hold their initial serves but the higher ranked Italian senior confidently drew the first blood. He sustained his lead by breaching his rival’s serve in the third and the fifth game respectively. Although, the 27-year-old Croatian native struggled hard, he was incapable of providing his rival with a strong defence, dropping the set by 4-6.
World number 112th, Croatian smashed 11 aces onto his rival, committing double faults eight times in the match. He displayed an average initial serve accuracy of 55 percent, winning 35 of 54 points. On the other hand, Seppi fired six aces and had a relatively better initial serve of 58 percent bagging away 48 of 69 points. From 13 serve points presented fortunately, he capitalized eight.
The Italian professional will contest against the local challenger, Vincent Millot in the next round. The French man defeated Igor Sijsling in straight sets 6-4, 6-4.
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