Feliciano Lopez overcomes Igor Kunitsyn in the opening round clash – Sud de France Open 2012
In a battle of the two veterans, world number 15, Feliciano Lopez of Spain, stood victorious against the 80th ranked Russian, Igor Kunitsyn, in the opening round of the Sud de France Open on Tuesday. The exciting encounter
lasted for one hour and 37 minutes, with the fifth seed Spaniard settling the final scores at 6-4, 7-6(7), in his favour.
Being a part of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 swing, the competition was staged on the indoor hard courts of the Arena Montpellier, in Montpellier, France. Lopez exhibited his vintage class once again
to dispose of his 30-year-old opponent in an assertive fashion. He cruised through the opening set with ease but had to sweat a bit in the next set to earn a deserving victory. It was the fourth victory for Lopez in the 2012 ATP season and the first one against
Kunitsyn in singles encounters.
The Russian veteran is yet to register a victory in the current professional season. He has already suffered four crushing defeats in 2012 ATP season, including the one on Tuesday and is labouring extremely hard to get in some
sort of rhythm. Kunitsyn was off to a sluggish start in the opening set, with the Spanish opponent asserting his dominance on the game earlier on. The unseeded Russian finally posed some resistance in the second set to bring some thrill in the game but Lopez
proved too strong for him to handle.
The fifth seed Spaniard fired 19 thudding aces in the match to earn some un-fought points. He delivered 61 per cent of his serve on target and stunningly clinched 42 out of 46 first serve points en route to victory. The contest
witnessed only one serve break, which was obviously registered by Lopez in the opening set but Kunitsyn squandered away two vital break opportunities in the match to finish on the losing side in the end.
Lopez broke early in the opener to lead 2-1 and held his serve to enhance it further to 3-1. The bleak Russian opponent was flabbergasted by such early onslaught and never recovered from the damage done in the rest of the set.
A regular game followed and Lopez closed out the first set at 6-4.
Kunitsyn held his serve throughout the second set and dragged the match into a tie-breaker round. The decider went to the wire, with the Russian desperately fighting to remain alive in the contest. Lopez finally concluded his convincing
victory at 7-6(7), marching into the second round of the tournament to face Guillaume Rufin of France.
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