Filippo Volandri advances as injured Tommy Robredo bows out – SkiStar Swedish Open 2011
Lady luck shone brilliantly upon Filippo Volandri, an Italian, at his first round match on Monday against the Spanish Tommy Robredo at the SkiStar Swedish Open in Bastad, Sweden. The opinion in a majority of the match previews
had been that the odds were stacked heavily against Volandri who wouldn’t be able to stand a chance against the seasoned professional Tommy Robredo. But Robredo had to eventually retire from the match in the second set after one hour and 49 minutes of play
due to a leg injury.
Statistically too the fifth seeded Tommy Robredo stood a far better chance at winning the match. Robredo is currently ranked at No. 33 in the world and is a former top ten ranked player, moreover he has previously held the Swedish
Open title twice, first in 2006 and then again in 2008. His performance has been especially good on clay courts, similar to the one at Bastad.
However, this is not to say that the Italian did not deserve to proceed to the next round. Precise and tactical play by Volandri had rendered Robredo defenceless from the first set and he was left trailing Volandri 5-7, 5-5 before
calling it quits.
Volandri’s ability to successfully convert breakpoints was his main stronghold in the game. During the match Volandri secured five service breaks compared to Robredo’s four. Of the five breakpoints converted three were in the first
set. Volandri also showed exceptional prowess during his service and in the opening set had a par serve accuracy of 72%. He successfully managed to round up fifteen points from his 23 serves.
The match progressed into the second set with both the players trying exceptionally hard to take a lead. For some time in the match, Robredo managed to retain an elusive service hold and hence edge past Volandri by securing a 5-4
lead, after exchanging four breaks of serve. However, Volandri soon regained control and levelled the score at 5-5. The Spaniard Robredo failed to recover again, eventually retiring and forfeiting the game in favour of Volandri.
It is worth mentioning here that Robredo hadn’t played for quite some time before Wimbledon too because of an injury. At Wimbledon the Spaniard had lost in the first round to Yen-Hsun Lu.
The victor, Italian Volandri, now awaits either Mikhail Kukushkin or Andreas Haider-Maurer for a duel, whose winner will reserve a place for himself in the quarter finals of the Swedish Open 2011.
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