Ivan Dodig, Jarkko Nieminen book places in second round – If Stockholm Open 2011
Seeded at number seven at the If Stockholm Open, Croatia’s Ivan Dodig went through deep channels before securing victory over the 87th ranked Frenchman, Adrian Mannarino, in the opening round encounter on Tuesday evening.
The contest was staged on the indoor hard courts of Stockholm, Sweden, with the world number 32, Dodig, displaying his steely nerves to wrap up victory at 7-6(5), 7-6(6), in a two hour nine minutes battle.
The 23-year-old French posed some serious resistance to Dodig in both sets, imposing a tie breaker round on each occasion but tend to lose his focus under pressure. Mannarino lost the two sets in tie breaker rounds to let Dodig
through to the second round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 event.
Dodig delivered 67 per cent of his serve on target, belting 19 thudding aces and securing 46 out of 58 first serve points en route to victory. He frittered away seven break opportunities and converted just one in the entire match.
Mannarino also converted one of his four break points to keep moving neck-to-neck with the Croat opponent but his bleak game play in the tie breaker rounds led him down in the end.
Dodig will take on the former world number three, David Nalbandian of Argentina, in the next round to fight for a place in the quarter-finals of the If Stockholm Open. Nalbandian fought two match points in his opening round matchup
against Xavier Malisse of Belgium and eventually defeated him in three sets 4-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(3), to make it to the second round.
Jarkko Nieminen of Finland also won his opening round match against the Romanian qualifier, Marius Copil on Tuesday as well. 73rd ranked Finn competitor suffered 10 cracking aces from his opponent but secured 32 out
of 41 first serve points to come out as the winner at 6-3, 7-6(4).
The only serve break of the match came from the racquet of Nieminen in the fourth game of the opener and the unseeded Finn took momentum from it to seal the first set in his name. Copil held his serve throughout the second set
and Nieminen had to go through a tie breaker round to conclude victory at 7-6(4).
Nieminen will take on the world number 19, Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, in the second round to battle for a quarter-final spot in the If Stockholm Open. Being the third seed in the tournament, Wawrinka received a bye to have
a direct access to the second round of the tournament.
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