Ivan Ljubicic fights past Teymuraz Gabashvili into second round – China Open 2011
Croat tennis veteran Ivan Ljubicic fought past Teymuraz Gabashvili 7-5, 7-5 on Tuesday to book his place in the second round of 2011 China Open here at the National Tennis Centre in Beijing, China. Unseeded at the Association of
Tennis Professional’s tournament, Ljubicic looked in stunning form in a very competitive opening round match.
Facing a very tricky opponent in the form of Teymuraz Gabashvili, Ljubicic had to at his very best to emerge victorious from the clash. Showing his great temperament and hard court skills, he forced errors from the challenger and
then he capitalized on them to establish complete control over the contest.
Known for his blazing serves, Ljubicic hit fourteen serves aces in the match, which of course dented his opponent confidence levels. Hitting the ball really hard from deep behind the baseline, he made his opponent run for his money.
Giving very few break chances to his opponent, he did a great job to stay ahead against someone like Gabashvili, who has the ability to bounce back from a significant deficit.
Ranked 26 in the world, Ljubicic played his natural game freely and although his serve was broken three times in the match, he seemed to be in his comfort zone for most part of the match. Winner of 10 ATP titles, Ljubicic will
be hoping for consistency as he takes on other top seeded players in the upcoming matches.
Gabashvili put up a great fight, to his credit. However, he lacked the firepower in certain areas of the game. The 26-year-old hit only a mere 55 per cent first, which of course played its part in deciding the outcome of the clash.
Although he broke his opponent three times in the match, his own serving was not up to the desired standard as he suffered five breaks of serve.
Ljubicic concentrated on his own game play and he clinched both sets by a very narrow margin. Converting 81 per cent of the points on his first serve, he managed to put a lot of pressure on his opponent.
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