Franco Skugor outsmarts Thomas Fabbiano in the second qualifying round of the Serbia Open
Sixth seed Franco Skugor of Croatia outplayed Italian, Thomas Fabbiano in the second round qualifiers of the Serbia Open, being played at the Tennis Center Novak complex in Belgrade, Serbia on Sunday. The Croatian defeated his
opponent in straight sets 6-2, 7-6(1), to eject him out of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 event.
The contest appeared pretty much one-sided at the start but turned out to be a nail biter in the later parts, with a close finish in the tie breaker round. Skugor rushed through the opening set but was extended to his limits in
the following set, which was finally decided by a tie breaker round. The Croat proved his mental toughness once again and came out as the winner at the end, stepping closer to the main draw of the tournament.
The two contestants didn’t serve up to the mark but exchanged plenty of winners among them. A total of 118 points were played in the game, with Fabbiano collecting 49 and Skugor leading him by clinching the rest of 69 points en
route to victory.
Skugor had an aggressive start to the opener, breaking in the third game to get the early advantage. The first serve precision for the Croatian was drastically low to just 32 per cent but he won 83 per cent points on it to keep
on top of the game. Fabbiano failed to craft any break opportunity and his errant stroke play allowed the Croat to strike his second serve break of the opener in the seventh game. Skugor fully capitalized upon the mistakes of his opponent and served out of
the first set comprehensively at 6-2 to get one up in the competition.
With the display of sheer dominance which Skugor showed in the opener, it was anticipated that the Croat will race past the second set and conclude an easy victory, but it didn’t happen like that. A dramatic comeback from Fabbiano
made the game more exciting. The Italian took benefit of the three double faults from his opponent in the second set to register his first serve break of the match. However, Skugor kept playing his attacking tennis and broke back to take the scores to 6-6.
The sixth seed Croat proved devastating for Fabbiano in the tie breaker round and reeled off six consecutive points to close out the contest at 7-6(1) to move into the final round qualifying draws of the Serbia Open.
Skugor has to go past Mirza Basic of Bosnia and Herzegovina if he desires an acceptance into the main draws of the tournament at Belgrade. Mirza Basic defeated Adrian Cruciat of Romania in straight sets in the second round 6-3,
7-6(2).
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