Ivan Ljubicic defeats Florian Mayer to make it to the quarterfinal – China Open 2011
Tennis veteran Ivan Ljubicic defeated German tennis pro Florian Mayer 6-0, 2-6, 6-3 in a well hard fought match on Wednesday to book his place in quarterfinals of 2011 China Open here at the National Tennis Center in Beijing, China.
Unseeded at the Association of Tennis Professionals tournament, Ljubicic looked in terrific form in a very competitive second round match that lasted for one hour and 53 minutes. The Croat has been giving considerable results on the ATP tour since the start of the year 2011. In the Grand Slams, he has been reaching the quarterfinals and round of 16 consistently. However, he failed to win a title on the tour mainly due to his inconsistent performances.
He will be hoping to make it all the way to the finals of the tournament to give himself a chance of winning his first title of the season. Winner of ten ATP titles, Ljubicic is a very dangerous server and if he gets a good percentage of his first serves in, he will have a great opportunity to upset other top seeded players at the competition.
Making a strong start to the contest, Ljubicic broke serve in the very first game of the opening set. Using his serves as a weapon, he earned quite a few cheap points. Securing 70 per cent of the points on his service games, he had no problems holding on to his serve games. Breaking the serve two more times, he bagged the opening set without dropping a single game.
Ljubicic continued to play aggressively in the following set as well and had a reasonable start to it as he took his opening service game quite comfortably. However, Mayer fought back brilliantly and he inflicted heavy blows on his opponent to change picture of the match. Breaking his opponent twice, the German came right back into the contest. Hitting a big forehand winner down the line, he evened the set score 1-1 to take the match into a decider.
Both men displayed some high quality tennis in the final set as some breathtaking tennis was witnessed. Ljubicic regrouped himself and he broke the serve in eight game of the set to take 5-3 lead, serving for the match. Using his vast experience at the international level, he then closed out the match to move ahead at the tournament. Mayer was disappointed with his effort as he was unable to handle the heat and he paid the ultimate price. The 28-year-old has given decent performances on the tour in the running season and he will be hoping to come back strongly on his next appearance.
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