Dino Marcan shocks Simone Bolelli to advance in the qualifiers – Croatia Open Umag 2011
Local tennis star, Dino Marcan upset qualifying top seed, Italian Simone Bolelli in a three set nail biter match at the Studena Croatia Open Umag 2011, a clay court tournament held in Umag, Croatia. He dominated in final set tie-breaker
to register a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(1) victory over the 25-year-old Italian to advance into the final round of qualifiers on Sunday.
Ranked 503rd in the South African Airways ATP World Tour rankings, Marcan bounced from a set down to stun the highest rank player of the qualifying competition of this event in their first meeting. After earning this
success in two hour and forty-seven minutes at his home soil, the Croat not only took lead in the head-to-head series by 1-0 against Bolelli, ranked 381 places above him, but also secured a final round spot in this qualifying competition.
Bolelli nervously entered the court and lost his opening serve to trail 0-2. However, he roared back by snatching the break back in the very next game. Later, the Italian kept his remaining serves through his quick forehands and
backhands and broke the Croat’s serve again in the fifth game to seal the opener by winning six games to four. He produced a lower first serve share of 52 percent as opposed to Marcan’s 62 percent but earned an impressive 75 percent win on it.
20-year-old Croat raised the bar of his game in the second set. He smoothly held on to his entire serves by maintaining consistency in his game and finally found the desiderated break in the eighth game to clinch the equaliser
with a 6-3 win. He clobbered a lower first serve share of 56 percent as compared to Bolelli’s 67 percent but registered a spectacular 93 percent win on it. He then mustered the set by creating nine breakpoint opportunities.
The youngster kept momentum sailing into the final set as he broke Bolelli’s serve in the very first game. He kept his savage mode and reeled off first four games in a row before the Italian could hold on.
Bolelli quickly refocused after it and snatched both breaks back to take the set to a tie-breaker.
After the Italian won his first net point in the tie-breaker, Marcan wiped out all the points to bag the decider with a 7-6(1) score line.
Marcan will next face another seeded Italian, Gianluca Naso. The fifth seed slew Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Aldin Setkic with a breadstick in one hour and four minutes to set-up this clash.
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