Carlos Berlocq downs Miljan Zekic in opening round – Tennislife Cup 2011 CH
Second seeded Argentinean Carlos Berlocq crushed Serbian qualifier Miljan Zekic with a breadstick at the Tennislife Cup 2011, an ATP Challenger Tour event held on the clay courts in Napoli, Italy. He registered a 6-1, 6-3 victory
over the 23-year-old Serb to secure a second round spot on Tuesday.
World number sixty-nine, Berlocq quickly outclassed the Serb, ranked 205 spots below him in the South African Airways ATP World Tour rankings, on their first meeting. After earning this one hour match success, he booked a second
round spot and inched towards €42,500 prize money.
After the Serbian held his opening serve in the second game, the 28-year-old Berlocq went on rage mode and reeled off next five games in a row to earn a breadstick. He organised a higher first serve share of 61 percent as compared
to Zekic’s 47 percent and registered a perfect win on it. In addition to this, the Argentinean never faced any hindrance and cashed in on both breakpoint chances to his advantage to win superbly.
He kept momentum sailing in the final set and held his opening serve convincingly in the second game. After Zekic held his serve in the fifth game, the Argentinean unleashed flurry of groundstrokes to wipe out last four games in
a row and clinched the set with a 6-3 score line. He clobbered a lower first serve share this time but earned a spectacular 83 percent win on it. He again mustered the set by facing zero breakpoint and by capitalising on both breakpoint opportunities to his
advantage.
Berlocq will next face a local tennis star, Simone Vagnozzi who rallied past Romanian Marius Copil in brutal three sets at Greenpark Posillipo on Monday.
Ranked 171st in the ATP rankings, Vagnozzi required almost three hours to overwhelm threat posed by Romanian, ranked 51 places below him, on their second meeting.
The Italian held entire serves after warding off four breakpoints came across. However, he failed to cash in on any of the five breakpoint opportunities to his advantage and took the set to a tie-breaker. Vagnozzi edged past Copil
in it to bag the opener with a 7-6(5) win.
The Romanian got on track in the second set and plucked in entire serves without facing any breakpoint. In addition to this, he converted one out of two breakpoint chances to his advantage to win the set with a 6-4 score line.
The higher ranked Italian jolted down his true form in the decider. He saved one out of two breakpoints faced but capitalised on the only breakpoint opportunity to his advantage to drag the set to a tie-breaker. Vagnozzi dominated
in it to clinch the set with a 7-6(5) victory.
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