Andreas Seppi downs Daniel Brands in the opening round – PBZ Zagreb Indoors 2012
Fifth seeded Italian, Andreas Seppi, dumped the world number 129, Daniel Brands, in straight sets at the PBZ Zagreb Indoors 2012 on Monday. He fended off late resistance posed by the German to advance into the second round of this ATP (Association of Tennis
Professionals) World Tour event taking place on the hard courts in Zagreb, Croatia.
A former top-30, Seppi overwhelmed resilience posed by the German in the end in their first meeting. He moved a step closer to bag $416,000 prize money and 250 ranking points at the South African Airways ATP World Rankings.
The 27-year-old found the breakthrough in the last game of the opening set and clinched it with a 6-4 score line. He held entire serves without facing any hindrance and cashed in the only break opportunity in the last game to edge past his opponent. Seppi
formulated a lower first serve share but smashed five aces to make up for it.
Seppi lost his way into the second set and suffered the first blow in the third game. However, the Italian snatched his break back in the very next game and kept remaining serves to prolong the set to a tie-breaker. The veteran went into the rage mode and
wiped out the last six points in row, eventually registering a 7-6(1) score line.
On the whole, the Italian capitalised on both break chances, one in each set, to tumble over Brands in almost one and half hour. He also clobbered amazing 39 out of 45 points on his lower first serve share and ended the match with 76 points.
Next up for Seppi, 42nd ranked at the ATP rankings, is the winner of the match between German contestant, Philipp Petzschner, and the qualifying top seed, Jurgen Melzer of Austria.
Dutch number one, Robin Haase will accompany the Italian star in the round of 16. The seventh seed required less than an hour to trash the local wild card entrant, Kristijan Mesaros, in straight sets to secure this spot. The Dutch failed to block the only
breakpoint he came across but cashed in half of the eight break opportunities to earn a 6-2, 6-3 victory. He also manipulated a lower first serve share but superbly penned down 22 out of 27 points on it.
Haase will next face the high spirited German, Matthias Bachinger, who eased past the South African challenger, Izak van der Merwe, in straight sets to advance in this event.
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