Igor Sijsling battles past Simone Vagnozzi into the second round – Rai Open 2012 CH
Fourth seed, Igor Sijsling of the Netherlands, bounced back after a meltdown in the second set to overcome Simone Vagnozzi of Italy 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 in the opening round at the Rai Open in Rome, Italy on Tuesday.
It took the Dutch two hours and 14 minutes to beat his opponent in a close match.
Sijsling and Vagnozzi did not lose their serve in the first six games of the opener to take the score to 3-3. The Italian dropped it two times after that, getting broken in the seventh and ninth game to lose 3-6.
The Dutch gave an outstanding performance on the first serve, as he bombarded five aces and won 12 of the 14 points on them in the first set. The Amsterdam, Netherlands resident saved both break points he faced and converted the
two he received.
Both players broke each other two times in the first 10 games of the second set, evening out the score at 5-5. The Italian struck in the eleventh and consolidated on it to win 7-5.
Vagnozzi kept his first serve percentage at 71, winning 16 of the 24 points on them. The Italian also did a good job on the second returns, as he converted 11 of the 19 of them into points. On the other hand, Sijsling’s performance
dropped, committing a couple of double faults and delivering just 44 percent of the first serves in the second set.
Sijsling got himself in a commanding position, as he snatched a break in the second game of the decider and held his next serve to move ahead 3-0. Vagnozzi did not surrender and fought back to square off the score at 5-5. However,
all his efforts went in vain, as Sijsling grabbed two successive games after that, sealing it 7-5.
The Dutch regained his form on serve, pounding five aces and clinching 17 of the 24 first delivery points. The right-hander also captured seven of the 11 second return points.
Sijsling is slated to take on Roberto Bautista-Agut of Spain in the second round. He defeated compatriot, Gerard Granollers-Pujol in the opener.
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