Flavio Cipolla crushes Jack Sock in opening round – Farmers Classic 2012
Italian veteran, Flavio Cipolla, devastated the local wildcard entrant, Jack Sock, with a breadstick at the Farmers Classic 2012 on Monday. He nudged up a 6-3, 6-1 victory against the world number 263 to book a spot in the pre-quarters at this outdoor hard
court event which is part of the Emirates Airline US Open Series.
Cipolla displayed tremendous skills to outsmart the 19-year-old in their first battle against each other. After pocketing the match in one hour and nine minutes, the Italian not only edged in the FedEx ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Head 2 Head
series by 1-0 against Sock but also cruised into the second round at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
The 28-year-old high-spiritedly entered this ATP World Tour 250 series event and drew the first blood in the fifth game to put his nose ahead. Despite squandering his edge in the very next game, Cipolla wiped out the last three games and clicked the opener
with a 6-3 win.
Ranked 93rd in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Cipolla perfected his game in the follow-up set. After Sock held his serve in the second game, the Italian unleashed flurry of groundstrokes and reeled off the following five games
successively. He was never threatened with any barrier and capitalised on two out of five break chances to rule the set.
All in all, the Rome native outshined the teenager completely. He manipulated a better first serve share of 76 per cent as opposed to his rival’s 58 per cent and fascinatingly availed 24 out of 35 points on it. He also spilled fewer errors and capped the
match with 55 points.
Next challenge for Cipolla is third seeded Leonardo Mayer who received a first round bye after being the top four players at this tournament.
On another court, Paul Capdeville also earned the glory later that day. His last ATP tour level win came at Santiago in 2010. After bagging this match, the Chilean not only ended his winning drought but also progressed into the second round. He registered
a 6-4, 7-6(5) score line against the Russian contestant, Igor Kunitsyn.
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