Grigor Dimitrov, Sebastian Rieschick move into the second round – If Stockholm Open 2011
Unseeded in the tournament, Grigor Dimitrov outplayed world number 66, Ryan Sweeting of the United States, in the opening round of the If Stockholm Open on Wednesday.
The 70th ranked Bulgarian absolutely outclassed Sweeting in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1, to make it to the second round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 event. The unseeded American hung in
the contest for just 73 minutes of play before submitting in the second set to finish off his voyage at Stockholm.
It was a pretty one-sided contest, with Dimitrov dominating for most of the time. The Bulgarian registered six thudding aces and secured 25 out of 31 first serve points in the matchup to come out as the winner. He converted four
of his 12 break opportunities in the contest to race through both sets with the utmost ease.
Sweeting suffered the first serve break of the day in the fourth game of the match, when Dimitrov broke into a 4-1 lead to get control of the contest. Dimitrov held his lead to finish off the first set at 6-3 and carried on with
his belligerence in the following set as well. He nailed three more break points to dump Sweeting from the competition at 6-1 and booked a place in the second round of the tournament.
Dimitrov needs to go through the fourth seeded Argentine, Juan Ignacio Chela, in the second round to book a place in the quarter-finals of the If Stockholm Open.
German qualifier, Sebastian Rieschick, also cleared the first round of the tournament by defeating the local wildcard, Michael Ryderstedt, in three sets, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, on Wednesday.
Rieschick took one hour and thirty nine minutes to register his first World Tour-level victory of the running ATP season. The 25-year-old German belted 12 aces and clinched 40 out of 51 first serve points in the game to dispose
of Ryderstedt from the If Stockholm Open. He took the opening set early in the game to get the upper hand but the Swede opponent backfired at him in the following set to bring him down on even terms. Rieschick got his rhythm back in the final set and finished
off the matchup at 6-3 to seal a place in the second round of the tournament.
Rieschick will take on his fellow compatriot, Tobias Kamke, in the next round to battle for a place in the quarter-finals. Kamke was successful in his opening round match against the eighth seeded Spanish opponent, Tommy Robredo,
in straight sets 6-2, 6-3, to meet Rieschick in the round of 16.
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