Ivan Ljubicic defeats Jeremy Chardy in the first round of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters
The 32-year-old Croat Ivan Ljubicic eases past 24-year-old French Jeremy Chardy with a breadstick on Sunday. He registered a 6-1, 6-2 victory over the French to advance to the second round at 2011 Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.
Ranked 40th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Ljubicic defeated the Frenchman in their first ever duel. The Croat now leads the head to head series by 1-0.
The Croatian veteran is in good shape and made a quarter-final berth at Zagreb and reached semi-final at Rotterdam before losing to 8th seeded French Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Though he exited from the first rounds in the later tournaments at Dubai, Indian Wells and Miami but he entered this ATP World Tour 1000 event in full confidence as he practiced much harder before reaching Monaco.
Ljubicic, who is a Monte Carlo resident, displayed tremendous skills on the court and clearly outshined the French youngster in every department of tennis. He held his serve plausibly in the first game and later kept his entire serves by pinning the balls expertly onto the lines. The Croat had a higher first serve share of 63 percent as compared to Chardy’s 53 percent and registered an acceptable 71 percent win on it. He saved both breakpoints he faced and converted two out of five breakpoint opportunities to his advantage to win six games to Frenchman’s one.
He carried his winning momentum in the second set and held his opening serve convincingly. The Croat improved his game play as he smashed four aces and earned an exceptional 83 percent win on his higher first serve share. He also saved the only breakpoint he faced and converted both breakpoint opportunities to his advantage to clinch the final set with a 6-2 win.
World number 54, Chardy played poorly in the match as he clobbered five double faults and several unforced errors. He also had a lower first serve share and return point winning share. In addition to this, the Frenchman saved only 43 percent of the breakpoints he conceded and failed to convert any of the three breakpoint opportunities he found to his advantage.
Ljubicic will next face another Frenchman, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, or Argentinean Juan Monaco.
Other players who advanced in the main draw are Latvian Ernests Gulbis who upset 14th seeded Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov with a breadstick, booming star Canadian Milos Raonic who downed French Michael Llodra with a bagel in three sets and German Philipp Kohlshreiber who rallied past Kazakhstani Andrey Golubev in three sets.
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