Flavio Cipolla prevails over Andrei Vasilevski in the opener – St. Petersburg Open 2012
Ranked 81st in the world, Flavio Cipolla of Italy needed two tie-breakers to outlast the low ranked player from Belarus, Andrei Vasilevski, in the first round of the St. Petersburg Open in Russia.
Cipolla took two hours and eight minutes to down the world number 785 in straight sets 7-6(4), 7-6(6) and booked his place in the last 16 of this event.
Both payers made a stable start, as they held their serve in the opening five games to take the score to 3-2 in favour of Cipolla. The Italian player struck in the sixth to go up 4-2 but he lost the subsequent two, squaring off
the proceedings at 4-4. Rest of the set went with serves, taking the score to 6-6 and forcing a tie-breaker. Cipolla grabbed a 3-0 lead at the beginning and made the most of it to triumph 7-6(4).
The Italian contender’s serve performance was not so brilliant in the first set, as he did not hit any ace and made one double fault. The 28-year-old maintained a first delivery percentage of 76 and clinched 24 of the 38 points
on them. The Rome, Italy resident also fared quite averagely on the first returns, losing 16 of the 21 points on them but the right-hander balanced by bagging 12 of the 22 on the second ones.
Vasilevski came roaring in the second set, striking in the first and third game to race to a 3-0 lead. The way the Belarusian participant was playing and dominating the proceedings at that moment, it seemed like he would equalise
the match score at one set apiece. However, Cipolla kept on fighting back slowly and steadily, clawing his way back to level it at 5-5. The next two games went with serve, evening out the score at 6-6 and taking it to a tie-breaker. It also saw a tough battle
between both players but Cipolla succeeded in making a mini-break at the end and sealing it 7-6(6).
The Italian player will face the world number 69, Grega Zemlja of Slovenia, or Slovakia’s fifth seeded player, Lukas Lacko, in the second round.
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