Evgeny Donskoy defeats Nikola Mektic to reach the second round at 2011 Rai Open
Russian Evgeny Donskoy secured a comfortable 6-4, 7-6(6) victory over Nikola Mektic of Croatia on Wednesday to reach the second round at the 2011 Rai Open in Rome.
Donskoy has been struggling to find his form since the start of this season. He was thrashed out in qualifying round of the first ATP tournament he participated in, at 2011 Auckland. He then returned to the tour at the 2011 Australian
Open where he was crushed by the Brazilian Rogerio Dutra Da Silva in the qualifiers. However, the 20-year-old restored some of the lost pride by clinching the Casablanca Challengers title defeating world number 141 Alessio Di Mauro in the final. Here at the
red clay courts in Rome, Donskoy certainly looked to have carried over that good form as he required only 1 hour and 40 minutes dispatching his opponent.
The 20-year-old Donskoy looked to dominate right from the start of the match. After claiming the first game on his serve comfortably, he pressurized his opponent. The Russian played in the chip shots effectively and forced his
opponent to make mistakes. With the score tied at 3-3 in the first set he made the first serve break of the match. The Russian then held on to his next serve games to take the opener 6-4.
The second set was definitely played on a more competitive note. Both players held on to their serve games as the set went into the tie-breaker. Mektic fought hard and tried his best to take the match into a decider. However, the
Donskoy wasted no time as he converted his very first match point to ensure a straight set victory.
Donskoy’s serve was on target most of the times as he fired 4 aces in the match. The Russian displayed some high quality ground strokes and saved 7 out 7 break points in the match with his rock solid defence. He will take on Cedrik-Marcel
Stebe in his next match at the tournament;
Mektic on the other hand gave a very disappointing performance. Ranked 268 in the world, Mektic is fairly new to the international arena. He has achieved considerable results on the ITF circuit however he is yet to prove his mettle
on tour. The 22-year-old was knocked out in the qualifying round of 2011 Australian Open by Canadian Milos Raonic. He then experienced a first round loss at the 2011 Zagreb at the hands of German Michael Berrer. To improve his ATP ranking, the Croat will
be hoping for a strong comeback.
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