Fernando Verdasco topples Alexandr Dolgopolov in the opener – Internazionali BNL d’Italia 2012
Ranked 16th in the world, Fernando Verdasco of Spain, moved to the round of 32 at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, Italy on Monday. The Spaniard won the first set 6-0 when his opponent, Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine, decided
to quit the match due to intestinal pain. The short encounter lasted for just 35 minutes.
Verdasco is in top form, as he stunned King of Clay, Rafael Nadal, in three sets 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 in the round of 16 at the Mutua Madrid Open last week. This was Verdasco’s first win over his countryman, after getting beaten in first
13 meetings. Only two weeks prior to that match, Nadal had crushed Verdasco in straight sets 6-0, 6-4 in the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell semi-final.
In today’s match, Verdasco started by breaking Dolgopolov in the very first game of the opening set and holding his next serve to attain a 2-0 advantage. The Spaniard struck two times again and capitalised on all of them to win
6-0.
Verdasco did not hit any ace and committed a single double fault in the opener. The Spaniard kept his first serve percentage at 82 and won 11 of the 18 points on them. He lost only one point on the second deliveries, claiming three
of the four. The left-hander was also brilliant on the replies to the Ukrainian’s serves, as he captured eight of the 15 first and eight of the 11 second return points.
The Spaniard performs quite well at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, having a 12-7 win/loss record at this ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event. Participating here for the first time in his career, Verdasco upset the then world number
16, Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, in straight sets 6-3, 7-5 in the opener. In the round of 16, he stunned USA’ Andy Roddick, ranked third at that time, in a three sets thriller 6-7(1), 7-6(3), 6-4.
In 2010, Verdasco surprised the then world number two, Novak Djokovic, in three sets 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-4 in the quarter-final.
The Spaniard is slated to take on sixth seed, David Ferrer, in the second round.
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