Croatian Ivan Dodig defeats Russian Igor Kunitsyn to advance in the Delray Beach Championships
In the opening round match of the Delray Beach International Championships, Croat Ivan Dodig defeated Igor Kunitsyn of Russia to advance to the second round. The Croat overcame his opponent in a three-set thriller by 6-4, 2-6 and 6-3, taking two hours and
twelve minutes on Tuesday night.
In a back-and-forth contest, Dodig dominated most of the game most. The critical factor in the Croat’s success was his inspiring serve, as he had an overall first serve per cent of 53, he converted 40 of his 58 service points.
Dodig proved a bit too overambitious at times, as he cracked 18 rapid aces throughout the contest, but committed 6 double-faults in trying to increase this figure. The Croat squandered some opportunities in the game but it did not cost him much.
The opener went on neck-to-neck as both men were not letting the other to come on top. Dodig clinched a serve break and it proved to be sufficient for him to bag the opening set at 6-4.
The following set witnessed an abrupt down-slide in the Croat’s game. He lost his winning momentum and started missing easy opportunities. Kunitsyn capitalised on the opportunity and shifted his gears to a more aggressive game play. The Russian hit some
assertive winner down the line to pressurize his opponent, which he succeeded to do so.
The Russian won 80 per cent of his total serve points and broke Dodig twice to seal the second set at 6-2, levelling the contest with one set a piece.
Dodig regrouped his strength in the decider and exhibited some great tennis play. Besides his 4 double-faults, he committed very few errors, while raising his serve percentage to 76. He broke the Russian serve at two occasions and saved four break points
brilliantly. Dodig eventually closed the third set at 6-3 to register a win in the first round.
The Croat books a date with Dudi Sela of Israel in the next round of the event. Sela won his first round encounter against the Aussie Marinko Matosevic by 3-6, 6-1 and 6-2.
In the match that followed, the Slovakian qualifier Blaz Kavcic beat Robert Farah of Columbia in straight sets by 6-1, 6-4.
The contest lasted for only 80 minutes, with Kavcic putting up an excellent show of high quality tennis. The Slovak cruised past the opening set by winning three serve breaks out of six chances. He never faced a break point in the opener and converted 75
per cent of his service points to his advantage.
Farah put up some resistance in the following set, cutting down his error count and improving his serve percentage. The Columbian broke his opponent’s serve at the start of the set but was immediately belted with a pair of serve breaks from Kavcic. The Slovak
sealed off the match by winning the second set at 6-4.
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