Feliciano Lopez crashes out by Igor Sijsling in round two – Proton Malaysian Open 2012
Seeded fifth in this event, Feliciano Lopez was underplayed by the Dutch contender, Igor Sijsling, in brutal straight sets at the Proton Malaysian Open 2012 on Thursday. He suffered a 6-7(0), 6-7(2) loss at the hands of the world number 97 in the second
round at this indoor hard court event taking place in Bukit Jalil in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The Spanish seed held his entire serves with conviction. However, he stepped off steam in both tie-breakers, eventually exiting from the tournament with disappointment. Sijsling on the other hand secured a place in the quarter-finals at this ATP (Association
of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 Series event taking place from 22nd to 30th September.
Lopez enthusiastically entered the Putra Indoor Stadium. He smoothly swiped his entire serves without facing any real challenge. However, the Spaniard failed to seek any break opportunity and took the set to a tie-breaker. He lost his track in it and after
failing to pocket a single point, Lopez suffered a 6-7(0) loss.
Ranked 32nd in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Lopez carried his losing ways towards the following set. He amazingly dusted away all three breakpoints he came across to keep his entire serves. However, the Spaniard again squandered
his entire break opportunities and dragged the set to a tie-breaker. He trailed in it and eventually endured a 6-7(2) defeat.
Summing up performance of the seed, Lopez fired 11 aces and produced almost equal first serve share of 59 per cent. However, he failed to cash in any of his six break chances and showed dismal performance in the tie-breaker.
Sijsling will next face the top seed, David Ferrer from Spain, who dumped Russia’s Alex Bogomolov Jr. in straight sets to set up this battle.
The fourth seed, Alexandr Dolgopolov, also shared a similar fate. He bowed out to the Colombian star, Alejandro Falla, in gruelling three sets on another court. The Ukrainian number one broke his opponent’s serve three times but lost his serve four times,
eventually suffering a 3-6, 6-3, 3-6 loss in one hour and 32 minutes.
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