Ivan Dodig edges past Pere Riba to advance into the second round – Gerry Weber Open 2011
Croat Ivan Dodig dominated in two tiebreaker sets to down the Spaniard, Pere Riba in straights sets at Gerry Weber Open 2011, an opening event of the grass court season. He registered a 7-6(4), 7-6(6) success at Halle, Germany
to advance into the second round of this event on Monday.
World number 43 Dodig took revenge from his loss to Riba, ranked 22 places below him, at Roland Garros two weeks ago after earning a straight set victory here at Gerry Weber Stadion. After triumphing over the Spaniard in one and
three quarter hours, the Croat levelled the head-to-head series against Riba by 1-1.
23-year-old confidently entered the court and held his opening serves plausibly. With exquisite forehands from his arsenal of skills, the Croat smoothly packed his entire serves. He faced zero breakpoint but failed to convert three
breakpoint opportunities to his advantage to drag the opener into the tie-breaker. Dodig dominated in it to seal the set with a 7-6(4) win.
He kept his winning ways into the final set and reeled off his entire serves with the help from six ferocious aces. Dodig saved the only breakpoint opportunity faced through his amazing defensive skills and found four breakpoint
opportunities. However, he failed to convert any to his advantage and took the set to tie-breaker where he prevailed and eventually clinched the set with a 7-6(6) victory.
Overall, the Croat slammed 13 aces, committed fewer double faults and clobbered a much better first serve share of 73 percent as compared to Spaniard’s 60 percent. In addition to this, he earned a spectacular 77 percent win on
it.
Dodig is in tremendous form this season so far. He won the title at Zagreb at the start of this season and then made quarter-final berths at Delray Beach and Zagreb. The Croat also reached semis at Barcelona before losing to world
number one Rafael Nadal. However his form dipped late last month when he lost to Riba in the opening round at Roland Garros.
Up next for Dodig is the winner of the match between two Frenchmen, third seed Gael Monfils and qualifier Florent Serra.
Russian Igor Andreev reached the second round earlier that day after trashing Italian Potito Starace in straight sets. He broke Starace’s serve once in both sets to reel off the match with a 6-4, 6-4 score line.
The Russian completely outplayed the Italian after smacking eight aces and finding seen breakpoint opportunities of which he converted two to his advantage. Furthermore, Andreev faced zero breakpoint and registered an amazing 79
percent win on his slightly lower first serve share.
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