Ivan Dodig reaches Barcelona Open semis after dismissing Feliciano Lopez
Croatian tennis player Ivan Dodig reached the semi-finals of the 2011 Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell earlier today, defeating Spanish tennis player Feliciano Lopez to extend his run on the clay courts of Spain. He scored his fifteenth
victory of 2011 in a tough three-setter which took place in the quarterfinals of this ATP World Tour 500 series tournament, and he managed to win the match 6-4, 2-6, 6-4. The player, who has only lost seven matches so far this season, took a little over an
hour and fifty-six minutes to defeat Feliciano Lopez.
The Croatian player has recorded wins against players such as third seed and ATP Top Ten pro Robin Soderling as well as Canadian tennis pro Milos Raonic in the last week. He entered the match with the same determination, scoring
three aces and breaking his opponent Lopez in the first few games. Although Lopez scored six aces, he could not play as well as Dodig and took eight points less than the player. The first set of the match ended with Dodig taking 56 per cent of the total points
to score a 6-4 win.
Feliciano Lopez managed to leave his mark in the second set, however, and broke Dodig twice in eight games. The player scored 90 per cent of his first serve points, and went ahead to win ten points more than his opponent to take
the set 6-2. At this point, the score-line was 6-4, 2-6 to Ivan Dodig, and the match went into three sets.
Despite the fact that Feliciano Lopez took four aces in the third set, Ivan Dodig had definitely gotten his edge back by this time. He did not face any break points in this set, and converted one of three opportunities against
the Spaniard to take 54 per cent of the total points played, and to win the set 6-4. This helped him to prevent an all-Spaniard semi-finals round, with a 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 score-line.
Currently ranked World Number 56, the player says, “It's been a great week for me. I've played some great matches and I'm really looking forward to playing one more match."
He will be taking on World Number 1 Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals.
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