Antonio Veic ousts Aldin Setkic in the qualifiers – Serbia Open 2012
Qualifying second seed, Antonio Veic, took down Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Aldin Setkic in straight sets at the Serbia Open 2012 on Sunday. He formulated a 6-4, 6-2 victory against the world number 456 to secure a place in the final round of the qualifying
competition at this ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 series event held in Belgrade, Serbia.
Veic showed brilliant agility and skills to outrun his opponent in one hour and eight minutes at this €450,000 ATP event. As a result, the Croat convincingly progressed into the final qualifying round.
The 24-year-old Croat high-spiritedly entered this outdoor clay court event and smoothly swiped in his entire serves after blocking the only breakpoint he faced. Veic cashed in the lone break chance in the fifth game and clicked the opener by winning six
games to four.
Ranked 127th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Veic unleashed his true colours in the second set. After Setkic held his serve in the opening game, the Croat went into a five-game tear to leap to a 5-1 lead. He then slid his
serve once more and bagged the set with a 6-2 win.
All in all, the beaming Croat produced a much better first serve share of 71 per cent as opposed to Setkic’s 56 per cent and excellently availed 31 out of 36 points on it. He also struck three aces and ended the match with 58 points.
Next in queue for Veic is the seventh seed, Romania’s Victor Crivoi, who battled past Nicolas Devilder in a three-set thriller to set-up this meeting. He was broken down three times but capitalised on five out of eight break chances to manipulate a 6-2,
2-6, 6-2 victory.
The qualifying third seed, Aljaz Bedene, also earned the limelight later that day. He exchanged a serve break and not only dragged the set to the tie-breaker but also dominated in it to grab the opener with a 7-6(4) win. The Slovene improved his game in
the second set and after cashing in two out of six break chances to pull out the set with a 6-3 score line.
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