Cilic/Dodig dumps Chela/Gonzalez in the opening round – International German Open Doubles 2011
Croatian pair of Marin Cilic and Ivan Dodig won their match against the combination of Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina and Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico in the opening round of International German Open Doubles, being played at the
Am Rothenbaum in Hamburg, Germany on Wednesday.
The unseeded Croatian duo displayed their brilliant clay-court tennis skills to outplay their opponents in the three-set thriller, which lasted for one hour and fifteen minutes of play to qualify for the quarter-finals of the ATP
(Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 tournament.
The evenly poised matchup witnessed some major momentum swings but Cilic and Dodig eventually came out as the winners after losing the opening set. They recovered from a one-set deficit with great mastery and combined their individual
efforts to dispose of Chela and Gonzalez in the first round of the event.
Both pairs adopted an aggressive strategy in the matchup and exchanged a number of assertive winners to prove their supremacy over one another. Chela and Gonzalez were off to a decent start in the opener, delivering 79 per cent
of their serve on target and secured 14 out of 19 first serve points. The Croatian duo bettered them by reeling off 15 out of 16 first serve points in the set and one crucial serve break in the fifth game from them proved the only decisive factor in the set.
The Croats struck a serve break to lead the opener and Chela and Gonzalez failed to recover from the damage, submitting the set at 4-6 to give a one-set lead to them. Tide turned in the following set, as Chela and Gonzalez took
off with a break point conversion in the very first game to lead the set. They secured 12 out of 20 first serve points and cracked in two serve breaks to bag the second set, levelling the contest with one set a piece.
The decider was sure to be a nail biter but Cilic and Dodig proved too strong for their opponents to contain in the game. Chela and Gonzalez clinched just five points in the third set before the Croatians sealed victory at 10-5
in the third set.
Cilic and Dodig now move into the quarter-final stage of International German Open, where they will meet the fourth seeded pair of Frantisek Cermak of Czech Republic and Filip Polasek of Slovakia for a place in the semi-finals
of the tournament.
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