Ivan Ljubicic upsets Sam Querrey to make it to the third round – French Open 2011
Another seeded player crashed out of Roland Garros, as world number 28 Sam Querrey of the United States got defeated at the hands of the 37th ranked unseeded Croatian, Ivan Ljubicic, in the second round clash on Thursday.
The Croat stun every one by outplaying 24th seed Querrey in straight sets 7-6(2), 6-4, 6-4, in two hours and five minutes to move one step further in the Grand Slam tournament.
Te contest was fairly poised throughout, except Ljubicic clinching crucial points on regularity to always remain one step ahead of his opponent. Querrey hung in the game for most of the time but tend to lose his focus on certain
occasions, throwing errant strokes all over the clay court to let the pressure built on him.
Both men delivered their first serve with similar accuracy of 53 per cent but the Croat made the most of it by bagging 45 out of 50 points on it to get the competitive advantage. Ljubicic fired 11 aces in the contest, while the
American followed him with eight aces.
Querrey and Ljubicic have met two times, with both men winning one contest apart, prior to their Thursday’s encounter. Their last meeting was at the Wimbledon in the round of 128 in 2009, when the American stood victorious in straight
sets 6-3, 6-4, 6-4. Ljubicic finally avenged his defeat in a Grand Slam tournament after two years and now leads the head-to-head series by 2-1.
It was the 12th victory for the Croat in the running ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) season, while he has suffered defeats on 10 occasions. The former world number three, Ljubicic displayed his vintage form
to outclass in-form American opponent in straight sets to get to the third round draws of the tournament.
Intense tennis was seen in the opening set as both men tried to get the early advantage over their opponent. None of the contestants was able to register a serve break in the opener and a decisive tie was eventually enforced. Querrey
crumbled in the tie breaker round and let the Croat take away the first set at 7-6(2), giving him the required momentum in the contest. Ljubicic carried on to impress the tennis fans at Paris and reeled off the next two sets with ease at 6-4, 6-4, to register
a surprise victory over the 24th seeded American.
The Croatian will square off against the world number 20, Fernando Verdasco of Spain in the third round clash on Saturday.
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