Filippo Volandri dumps Andrea Basso in opening round – AON Open Challenger 2011
World number 85, Filippo Volandri, had to go through some tough times before wrapping up the all-Italian affair against the wildcard entrant, Andrea Basso, in the opening round of AON Open Challenger on Tuesday afternoon.
The contest was played on the clay courts of Genoa, Italy, with the fourth seeded home favourite, Volandri, concluding victory in three sets, 1-6, 6-3, 6-1, to make it to the second round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals)
Challenger Tour event.
Basso was off to a flying start in the opener but it took one hour and forty eight minutes for Volandri to dispose of his fellow compatriot from the competition. The Italian wildcard absolutely blew away Volandri in the opening
set but then completely lost his steam in the later sets of the game to let the advantage away.
Volandri’s 66 per cent precise serve earned him 39 out of 57 first serve points in the matchup to give him the edge over Basso, who collected just 25 out of his 38 points to finish on the losing side in the end. Basso had eight
opportunities to break his opponent’s serve in the contest but he converted only two of them to remain on the back foot in the later parts of the game.
The fourth seeded Italian also crafted eight break points in the competition and converted half of them en route to victory. Volandri was off to an extremely sloppy start in the opening set, dropping his serve twice to let Basso
consolidate his position in the game. Basso pocketed nine out of his nine first serve points to take the first set at 6-1 to get one up in the contest but went through a drastic slump in the very next set to let the fourth seed back in business.
Volandri gathered up pace steadily in the second set and saved four break points before registering his first serve break of the day. The second set fell to his name at 6-3 and the fourth seed then launched the onslaught in the
final set to drive Basso out of the competition in an assertive manner. Volandri nailed three successive serve breaks to his opponent’s serve to rocket away to victory at 6-1 to book a place in the second round of AON Open Challenger.
The fourth seed will face another fellow compatriot, Gianluca Naso, in the next round to battle it out for a place in the quarter-finals of the tournament.
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