Flavio Cipolla, Michael Russell advance to the main draw – Rogers Cup 2011
Flavio Cipolla beats Jesse Levine 6-2, 6-1
Italian Flavio Cipolla, ranked 113th in the world, knocked out world number 526 Jesse Levine of USA in straight sets 6-2, 6-1 in the final round of the qualifying draw at the Rogers Cup in Montreal on Sunday. The match
lasted for just over an hour.
Cipolla dominated the match form the start, breaking the American in the fourth game and holding his serve in the next game to go ahead 4-1. The Italian broke again in the eighth game to win the set 6-2. The 27-year-old fired two
aces and claimed fifteen of the eighteen first service points. Cipolla also won two of the six second service points and six of the eleven first return points in the opening set.
The Italian lost only one game in the second set. Cipolla broke Levine in the fourth and sixth game, capitalising on the double break of serve to seal the set 6-1. The five feet and eight inches tall hit two double faults and smacked
a single ace in the second set. The Italian kept his first serve percentage at 76 percent, claiming fourteen of the nineteen points on the first serve in the second set.
Cipolla will play world number 30 Nikolay Davydenko of Russia in the first match of the main draw.
Michael Russell defeats Marsel Ilhan 7-5, 6-2
World number 100 Michael Russell of USA dismissed Turkish Marsel Ilhan, ranked 108th in the world, in straight sets 7-5, 6-2 to move to the second round. The American took one hour and 39 minutes to clinch the match.
Russell and the Turkish could not break each other in the first ten games of the opening set, equalising the score at 5-5. The American broke Ilhan in the eleventh game and served out the set at 6-5. The 33-year-old succeeded in
saving the five break points he faced on his own serve and bagged the only break point he received on Ilhan’s serve in the first set.
In the second set, the American took the lead straightaway as he broke Ilhan in the opening game and held his serve in the second game to build a 2-0 lead. Russell broke the Turk again in the fifth game and consolidated on the
double break of serve to clinch the set 6-2. The American won eleven of the thirteen first service points and converted two of the three break points he received in the second set.
Russell is slated to face world number 47 Albert Montanes of Spain in the opening round of the main draw.
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