Dudi Sela outclasses Alexandr Dolgopolov in the first round match – St. Petersburg Open 2011
A surprising outcome was seen in the opening round of the St. Petersburg Open, as the world number 16, Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine, crashed out in his first matchup against the 97th ranked Israeli competitor, Dudi Sela, on Monday.
The third seeded Ukrainian suffered a humiliating straight sets defeat at 2-6, 2-6, to let Sela through to the second round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 event.
The contest was staged on the indoor hard courts of the Petersburg Sports and Concert Complex in Saint Petersburg, Russia, with the wildcard entrant surprising everyone with his phenomenal game play. Sela took merely one hour to outplay Dolgopolov in the contest to register his 8th World Tour-level victory of the running season.
22-year-old Dolgopolov is 37-26 in the current year and is at number 15 for the race to the ATP World Tour Finals in London next month. His loss in the first round certainly dented his chances of making it to the prestigious event in London.
The Israeli wildcard outclassed his opponent in every segment of the game and gave him no chance to get settled. Sela’s 55 per cent accurate serve earned him 20 out of 27 first serve points, while Dolgopolov lagged behind with 15 points. The third seeded Ukrainian utterly failed to register a single serve break in the entire matchup, squandering away two priceless break opportunities to finish on the losing side in the end.
Sela took hold of the game with a cracking break of serve in the third game to lead 4-1 early in the opener. He consolidated his lead with his second straight serve break in the fifth game and then served out of the first set at 6-2.
Dolgopolov’s poor slump continued in the second set as well, as he dropped his serve in the fifth and seventh game to trial 2-5. Sela had no trouble in serving out of the second set as well, finishing off the matchup at 6-2 to qualify for the second round of the tournament in style. A total of 99 points were played in the contest, with Sela clinching 57 and Dolgopolov trailing with a mere 42.
Sela will either take on the Frenchman, Jeremy Chardy, or the Serb qualifier, Dusan Lajovic, in the next encounter to fight for a berth in the quarter-final draw. Chardy and Lajovic will go one-on-one against each other on Tuesday and the winner will meet Sela in the second round of the St. Petersburg Open.
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