Ivan Dodig edges past Marsel Ilhan in the opening round – PBZ Zagreb Indoors 2012
Defending champion, Ivan Dodig, dumped the Turkish competitor, Marsel Ilhan, in straight sets at the PBZ Zagreb Indoors 2012 on Wednesday. He warded off early resistance to register a 7-6(5), 7-5 victory over the 24-year-old Turk and reached the second round
at this ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour event taking place in Zagreb, Croatia.
The fourth seeded Croat fired 21 aces to outsmart the Uzbekistan-born Ilhan in their first meeting. He needed almost two hours to not only book a spot in the round of 16 at his home soil but also inched towards his second ATP career title.
Dodig assertively entered the Dom Sportova and smoothly plucked entire serves after smashing eight vicious aces down the line. He also found six break opportunities but failed to convert any to his advantage, eventually dragging the set to a tie-breaker.
The Croat prevailed in it and earned a 7-6(5) win.
The Croat carried his momentum in the following set and held his serve in the second game to level the scores at 1-1. He then continued bagging remaining serves and got the breakthrough in the eleventh game, subsequently clinching the set with a 7-5 score
line.
Overall, the 27-year-old coughed more double faults and formulated a lower first serve share of 56 percent as opposed to the Turk’s 74 percent. However, he brushed off both breakpoints he came across and spectacularly clicked 38 out of 43 points on his first
serve.
The local star was ousted in the opening round at the Australian Open 2012 due to back injury. However, he seemed to recover in this hard court event.
"It was more important not to feel the injury during play," Dodig said after the match.
Next up for the seed is the Spanish rising star, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. The Spaniard downed the British qualifier, Daniel Evans, in a see-saw match earlier that day. He stepped off gas in the second set but unleashed his skills in the final set to register
a 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 score line.
On another court, Israel’s Dudi Sela bounced back to dump the German contestant, Andreas Beck, in an hour and 46 minutes duel. The Israeli lost his serve twice and suffered a 3-6 loss in the opening set. However, he gained his rhythm afterwards and in the
end formulated a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory in their first meeting.
Sela will next face the eighth seed, Ivo Karlovic, who trashed Blaz Kavcic in straight sets to book this spot.
Tags: