Igor Sijsling defeats Nikola Ciric; advances at the Tennis Napoli Cup
Igor Sijsling of Netherlands downed Nikola Ciric of Serbia in straight sets on Monday. He registered a 6-3, 7-6(6) victory over the 27-year-old Serb to advance into the second round of the 2011 Tennis Napoli Cup in Naples, Italy.
The 23-year-old Dutchman displayed his tremendous skills at Tennis Club Napoli and trashed Ciric on his first ever duel in one hour and twenty-three minutes. He has now taken lead by 1-0 in his head to head series against the 27-year-old
Serb.
Ranked 178th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Sijsling was in his top form in the end of last year as he clinched the title at Eckental Challenger and then reached final of the Aachen Challenger.
However, he lost his spark this season and won only one out of his last ten matches. In this event, he seemed to re-form his strategy as he won his opening match against the world number 201 Ciric.
In the opening set, the Dutch showed his exceptional skills and held his serve in the first game. He then pinged the balls expertly into the lines to hold on to his remaining serves and broke Ciric serve in the eighth game to clinch
the set with a 6-3 win. Sijsling produced a better first serve share of 65 percent and earned a perfect win on it. He also committed less double faults and unforced errors, and faced zero breakpoints.
He improved his level of game in the second set and broke the Serbian’s serve in the very first game. He then extended the lead by holding his serve in the proceeding game but he lost his serve in the fourth game to level the score
at 2-2. Later Sijsling held his remaining serves spectacularly and took the match to tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, the Dutchman was initially trailing bit made a comeback and downed Ciric with a 7-6(6) score line.
Sijsling will next face the winner of the match between two Italians, 7th seeded Alessio di Mauro and wild card enterant Enrico Fioravante.
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