Frank Dancevic, Marinko Matosevic cruise to second round of BNP Paribas Open 2011 qualifiers
Frank Dancevic beats Steve Johnson 7-6, 6-4, 7-6
World number 203 Frank Dancevic of Canada defeated world number 636 Steve Johnson of US in three sets 7-6, 6-4, 7-6 in the first round of the qualifying draw at the BNP Paribas Open 2011 on Tuesday.
It took Dancevic 2 hours and 20 minutes to win the marathon match.
In the first set, both players tried their best to break each other’s serve. However, they failed in doing so as Dancevic missed all 4 chances to break his opponent and saved the 2 break points he faced. The set went to a tiebreaker, which Dancevic
won 7-3.
The Canadian hit 5 aces and one double fault in the first set. He hit 59 per cent of the first serves, winning 74 per cent of the points on them.
After losing the opening set, Johnson fought back in the match as he won the second set 6-4. He availed 1 of the 2 break points he received in the set to break his opponent’s serve.
The final set was a thriller as expected. Both players broke each other’s serve twice in the third set, taking it to the second tiebreaker of the match. However, it was Dancevic who handled the pressure better than his opponent at the crucial position,
winning the tiebreak 7-4.
Dancevic has a 2-4 win/loss record in the year so far. He reached the quarterfinals at the SA Open, where he lost to Adrian Mannarino of France in straight sets 3-6, 2-6.
The Canadian will face world number 128 Alex Bogomolov Jr. of US in the second round. Bogomolov prevailed over Stefano Ianni 6-0, 6-2 in the first round.
Marinko Matosevic ousts Dusan Vemic 6-4, 6-1
Meanwhile, Marinko Matosevic of Australia cruised past Dusan Vemic of Serbia in straight sets 6-4, 6-1 to reach the second round.
In the first set, 5 of the 10 service games were broken. However, it was the Australian who broke his opponent three times to win the opening set 6-4.
The 25-year-old hit 52 per cent of the first serves, winning 64 per cent of the points on them in the first set. He saved 1 of the 3 break points he faced. On the other hand, his opponent could only save just 1 of the 4 break points.
After winning the first set, Matosevic never looked back and broke Vemic twice in the second set, winning it 6-1. The Australian won 28 of the 47 points in the second set.
Matosevic is drawn to face world number 326 Raven Klaasen of South Africa in the second round. The South African defeated Italian Matteo Viola in three sets 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 in the first round.
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