David Ferrer opens with easy win over Pere Riba – SkiStar Swedish Open 2011
Things rolled at a leisurely pace in the rain plagued southern Swedish city of Bastad, home to the ongoing 2011 SkiStar Swedish Open. The damp conditions rendered the clay courts useless for the better part of the day and many
of the second round matches had to be rescheduled for Friday. Spaniards David Ferrer and Pere Riba grabbed a dry window during the day and battled for a place in the quarter finals. Only two other second round matches were played with Austrian Andreas Haider-Maurer
and Slovenian Blaz Kavcic marching on the quarter finals.
Opening his campaign fourth seed and 2007 titlist David Ferrer comfortably managed a win over his compatriot Pere Riba. The score board stood at 6-2 7-6(4) play’s end. This match was the players’ first outing against each other.
World No. 6 Ferrer, on Davis Cup duty for his country, played an instrumental role in helping Spain pull off a surprise win against United States’ Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish in the quarterfinals last weekend. Ferrer’s performance otherwise too has been excellent
throughout this season – he has managed to almost reach the quarterfinals of every tournament played.
The underdog and fellow Spaniard Riba is currently ranked at 71, nestled comfortably amongst the top hundred players’ league. Most of the points that have helped him reach this point have been won off clay courts.
Coming from the hard indoor courts in Austin, Texas Ferrer took to the red clay courts like a fish to water. Opening serve in the first game, Riba gave away a breakpoint helping Ferrer race away to a comfortable lead. Ferrer registered
another break of serve in the seventh game and sauntered to an easy 6-2 win. This first set had earlier been delayed due to the intermittent rain when Ferrer was leading 5-2.
The second set proved to be a little difficult for Ferrer as better performance on Riba’s part stretched the game far too long. However, throughout the match there was never any doubt as to who would be the eventual winner. The
thrilling set saw Riba win all six of the games on his serve and he managed to save all three of his breakpoints. With the scores level the set was eventually decided by a tiebreak, where Ferrer performed with renewed energy picking up the game with 7 points
against Riba’s 4.
Looking to reclaim his title Ferrer will now meet Austrian Andreas Haider-Maurer, who had dismissed Filippo Volandri earlier in the day to reach the final eight.
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