Carlos Berlocq sails past Ivan Dodig into second round – VEGETA Croatia Open 2012
Fifth seeded Argentine Carlos Berlocq sailed into the second round of the VEGETA Croatia Open 2012 in Umag, Croatia, on Tuesday after destroying local Ivan Dodig in straight sets. The higher ranked Argentine barely broke a sweat
as he registered an easy breezy 6-4, 6-0 win over the local in only eighty four minutes.
Meeting for the second time in their careers, Berlocq now leads the head-to-head against the Croat by 2-0. Berlocq has earlier registered a similar score line win over the Croat in 2012 when the two met for the first round of the
Alessandria Challenger. Dodig had then lost 4-6, 2-6.
Despite the support of the local crowd, Dodig failed to find any strong footing in the matchup except for an average performance in the first set. Winning the toss, Dodig opened serve and put himself on the scoreboard with little
resistance. Berlocq followed suit with no resistance from the local. Riding his solid second game performance, Berlocq broke the local in the third game and served another perfect game in the fourth to lead the set 3-1. Dodig was never able to bounce back
from this two game deficit. Although the local held his serve for the remainder of the rest he failed to break the perfect Argentine defence. Poised at 5-4 in the first set, Berlocq comfortably served out the set to secure a 6-4 victory and a one set lead.
Surviving Dodig’s ace and his own double fault, Berlocq served an amazing 71 percent on his first serve as he won 82 percent points on it to go one up in the set score.
Broken by the loss in the first set, Dodig was unable to make his presence known in the second set. Opening serve once more, the local was easily broken by the Argentine who rushed to secure an early and solid lead. Enjoying back-to-back
successful breakpoint opportunities and holding his own games comfortably, Berlocq was able to reel off six straight games to register a bagel victory over the local and straight sets sailing into the second round.
The fifth seed now moves into the second round of the event to play compatriot qualifier Marco Trungelliti. In a surprising performance in the first round, Trungelliti upset higher ranked Italian Paolo Lorenzi with a 7-5, 6-4,
win to ensure his survival at the event. Despite his five double faults and countless erroneous shots, the Argentine qualifier was able to convert five of eleven breakpoints to his advantage to wrap up a straight sets victory in two hours and seven minutes.
The two compatriots will face off later in the week.
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