Dmitry Tursunov wins battle against Grigor Dimitrov at Open 13
Dmitry Tursunov of Russia beat his first round opponent Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria in an epic contest at the Open 13 ATP 250 tournament in Marseille, France on Monday. Tursunov makes his way to the second round of the tournament after defeating the teenager
in a three-set thriller by 6-7, 7-5 and 7-6.
It was a serve dominated game as both contestants exhibited a magnificent display of accurate rapid serve. Dimitrov cracked 17 aces in the game while the Russian followed him with 12. The serve percentage for both players was impressive and their cross-court
shot making was phenomenal.
The contestants were equally matched with one another, as the balance of the game kept oscillating between them. All of the three sets had close finishes, as it was less predictable during the match as to which player will be come out the winner. Tursunov
saved all the four break points he presented to his opponent and claimed one himself. It was the only break point of the entire match. The entire contest was packed with high quality competitive tennis action.
The opening set was all serve dominated as both players refused to yield any return point, making their way to the tie breaker. Twice, the Russian got in the lead in the tie breaker round but a double-fault from his racket bestowed a mini-break to Dimitrov.
The Bulgarian took the chance and finished off the decider by eight points to six.
The Russian was put under test by Dimitrov in the eighth game, as he had four crucial break points at 4-3. The Russian stepped up to the occasion to prove his class and saved all four virtual match points. Tursunov kept his momentum flowing as he took the
first break of the match to win the second set at 6-5 and forcing the third to decide the match.
The decider was no different to the opening set, as big serves continued having their impact on the game. Both men managed to grab some return points in the third set and Tursunov nearly had a serve break. With none of the players dropping a serve, the match
had to enter a decisive tie breaker. Dimitrov got the initial lead of 3-1 but the Russian was far too good to contain. Tursunov shifted his gears to take the pace under control and finished off the epic battle at 7-6 in the third set.
It was an amazing game of tennis which went up to the wire. Both Tursunov and Dimitrov congratulated each other after the contest for putting up such an amazing effort. Dmitry Tursunov will be squaring off in the second round against either Ivan Ljubicic
or Anrey Golubev.
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