Ivan Dodig beats Jeremy Chardy in the opening round – Rogers Cup 2011
World number 41, Ivan Dodig of Croatia, won his encounter against the unseeded French competitor, Jeremy Chardy, in the opening round of Rogers Cup on Monday afternoon at the Uniprix Stadium in Montreal, Canada.
The one-sided affair took 82 minutes to conclude, with the Croat winning in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, to advance to the second round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Masters Series tournament. Dodig appeared absolutely
unplayable in the matchup and gave no opportunity to his opponent to get his impact over the game.
Dodig’s magnificent serve proved to be his critical success factor in his Monday’s victory over Chardy. The unseeded Croat delivered 57 per cent serve on target, firing 11 thudding aces to get some un-fought points in the matchup.
He amazingly reeled off 27 out of 32 first serve points in the game, while his opponent followed him with 23 out of 29 points to lose the matchup.
The French competitor appeared in no sort of form throughout the contest and proved a total mismatch for Dodig in the game. Chardy failed to craft a single break opportunity in the entire matchup and suffered two out of three break
point conversions from his opponent to finish the contest on the losing side.
The opening set took off with a steady from both contestants, as they were trying to get their eye in the game and avoiding unnecessary risk at the start. A regular game took the scores to 4-3, and a crucial move by the Croat earned
him the first serve break of the day to serve for the set at 5-3. Dodig secured 12 out of 13 first serve points and convincingly served out of the opening set at 6-3 to get the one-set lead in the contest.
One bagging the opening set, Dodig continued with his momentum in the following set as well, securing 15 out of 19 first serve points to get the better of his opponent. No serve breaks were seen in the opening six games of the
second set but the Croat finally registered one in the seventh game to lead 4-3. Chardy failed to recover from the damage done by the break point conversion and submitted the matchup to Dodig at 4-6, letting him into the second round of Rogers Cup.
The Ultimate challenge for Dodig is waiting in the second round of the tournament as he will face the world number two, Rafael Nadal of Spain, for a place in the third round. The Spaniard received a bye to get a direct access to
the second round of the tournament.
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