Ivan Dodig surprises Juan Monaco in opening round – Rakuten Open 2011
Croat Ivan Dodig stunned the eighth seeded Argentinean Juan Monaco in a three setter see-saw match at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2011, an ATP World Tour 500 series event held on the outdoor hard courts in Koto,
Tokyo, Japan. He registered a 6-2, 2-6, 7-6(1) success over the 27-year-old Argentinean to secure a second round spot on Tuesday.
World number thirty-five, Dodig showed extra-ordinary skills to upset the seed, ranked seven places above him, in two hours and forty-two minutes on their first face-to-face.
The Croat made quick on the US$1,100,000 track as he smoothly kept entire serves without facing any real challenge. He faced zero breakpoint and cashed in on half of the four breakpoint opportunities to his advantage to seal the
opener with an assuring 6-2 score line. Dodig also formulated a higher first serve share of 57 percent as compared to Argentinean’s 43 percent and registered a spectacular 83 percent win on it.
The seed dug his way back in the game and after the scores were tied at 2-2, the Argentinean bombarded massive forehands and backhands to reel off last four games in a row. He faced zero breakpoint and capitalised on two out of
five breakpoint chances to his advantage to earn a 6-2 equaliser. Monaco also registered a better first serve share this time and earned an impressive 67 percent win on it.
The Croat raised the bar of his game again in the final set. He gifted away his serve early on in the fifth game but quickly counter attacked in the follow-up game to level the scores at 3-3. Dodig held remaining serves to prolong
the set to a tie-breaker where he made his presence felt all over the court to pocket the decider with a 7-6(1) win.
26-year-old Croat will next face another Argentinean, David Nalbandian who crushed Czech Lukas Rosol with double breadsticks to set-up this meeting.
World number sixty-six, Nalbandian took just forty-nine minutes to blasts past the Czech, ranked thirteen spots below him, on their first meeting.
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