Florian Mayer disposes of Ivan Ljubicic in the second round clash – Swiss Indoors Basel 2011
World number 22, Florian Mayer of Germany, finally ended up his losing streak against the 31st ranked Croatian, Ivan Ljubicic, in the second round of the Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel on Thursday evening.
The unseeded German took merely one hour to dump the Croat opponent in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1, to make it through to the second round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 500 event.
Mayer was trailing a 0-3 deficit in his head-to-head series against Ljubicic, with the most recent loss coming in the second round at Beijing, China, this season. The German finally avenged his defeats in an authoritative manner
on Thursday and absolutely manhandled the world number 31 to race away to victory in style.
Mayer took the momentum of the game right from the beginning and remained on the top all the way to victory. The 28-year-old German delivered 61 per cent of his first serve on target and dropped just five points on it, clinching
25 out of 30, en route to victory. He converted all of his five break opportunities in the match and successfully defended three of four break points to dump Ljubicic from the competition.
Ljubicic was off to an excellent start in the opening set, breaking Mayer in his very first serve game to lead 2-0. The German veteran retaliated immediately to break his opponent’s serve, bringing him down on even terms once again.
Mayer continued to play aggressive tennis and slipped in another break of serve in the seventh game to lead the set. His third break point conversion of the day proved decisive in the first set, as he took the opener at 6-3 to get one up early in the competition.
The following set was an all-German show, with Mayer dominating every second of it to drive Ljubicic out of the competition in an assertive manner. He nailed two successive serve breaks to race away to 5-0 lead in the set number
two and then went on to serve out of the matchup at 6-1, getting into the quarter-finals of the tournament.
Mayer will take on the Swiss number two, Stanislas Wawrinka, in the quarter-finals on Friday evening to battle it out for a place in the semis of the Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel. Wawrinka was successful against the unseeded Dutch
competitor, Robin Haase, in three sets, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, in the second round of the tournament to book a clash with Mayer in the quarters.
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