Grigor Dimitrov beats Marsel Ilhan in opening round – Western & Southern Open 2011
Bulgarian wildcard entrant, Grigor Dimitrov, won his matchup against the Turk qualifier, Marsel Ilhan, in the opening round of Western and Southern Financial Group Masters, on Monday afternoon.
Being a part of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Masters Series, the competition was staged at the outdoor hard courts of the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, near Cincinnati, United States. The Bulgarian competitor
took one hour and twelve minutes of play to settle the final scores at 6-3, 7-5, to get a berth in the second round of Cincinnati Masters.
The contest appeared pretty one-sided, with Dimitrov dominating for most of the time in the game to come out as the winner in the end. The Bulgarian served very well and his points bagging proficiency was phenomenal in the matchup,
as he reeled off 32 out of 35 first serve points en route to victory. Seven thudding aces were fired from the Bulgarian’s racquet, while his opponent recorded merely one ace in the entire matchup.
Ilhan had a sloppy start in the opening set and was completely blown away by the aggressive Dimitrov to suffer a one-set deficit in the matchup. The Turk regrouped a bit in the second set and moved on neck-to-neck with Dimitrov
but eventually lost his steam in the last minutes of the game to lose the matchup.
The opening set took off with aggression from both men and no serve breaks were seen in the first five games. Dimitrov registered the first break point of the day in the sixth game and then held his serve to reach a substantial
position in the set at 5-2. The Bulgarian secured 14 out of 15 first serve points and serve out of the first set at 6-3 to get one set up in the matchup.
More intense tennis was witnessed in the following set, with Ilhan trying to break the shackles and turn the game on his opponent. The Turk held his serve till 5-5 and it appeared as if a tie breaker was about to come into play
but a timely serve break from Dimitrov closed out victory for him at 7-5, moving into the second round of Cincinnati Masters.
A tougher challenge awaits Dimitrov in the next round of Cincinnati Open, as he will take on the world number six, David Ferrer of Spain, for a place in the third round. Being the fifth seed in the tournament, Ferrer received a
bye to play directly in the second round.
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