Ivan Dodig rallies past Tobias Kamke in the opening round – Sony Ericsson Open 2012
World number 60, Ivan Dodig, outmuscled the German contender, Tobias Kamke, in a three set nail-biter at the Sony Ericsson Open 2012 on Wednesday. He joggled up a 6-0, 2-6, 7-6(5) victory against Kamke to secure a place in the second round at this hard court
tournament held at Key Biscayne.
The 27-year-old made a strong start at the Floridian hard courts and barely sweated in the opening set to pocket the match in two hours and 42 minutes. Both contestants previously clashed each other at the Stockholm ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals)
event and after clinching this match, Dodig remained his winning streak against the German.
Dodig blasted into the Tennis Center at Crandon Park and winded up the first six games in a row to pull out the opener with a bagel. The Croat superbly warded off all eight breakpoints he faced and capitalised on three out of seven break chances to earn
the limelight.
The world number 88 on the other end turned the tables on Dodig in the second set. He easily swiped in entire serves without facing any breakpoint and cashed in both break opportunities to seal the equaliser by winning six games to two.
The match was hovering at a knife edge but the former world number 32 re-focused his strategy again. He failed to defend the only breakpoint he came across but capitalised on one out of three break opportunities to drag the set to a tie-breaker. The Croat
outclassed Kamke in it and clinched the decider with a 7-6(5) score line.
Overall, Dodig committed more double faults but covered it up by hitting 12 aces. He manipulated a lower first serve share of 49 per cent as compared to the German’s 62 per cent but amazingly marked 35 out of 50 points on it.
The Croat will next face the 19th seed, Florian Mayer, who received a first round bye after being a top-32 player at this event.
Colombia’s Santiago Giraldo will go along with the Croat in the second round. He broke Pablo Andujar’s serve three times to formulate a 6-3, 6-2 score line in one hour and 28-minutes.
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