Janko Tipsarevic battles past Alexandr Dolgopolov into the fourth round – Sony Ericsson Open 2012
Ninth seed, Janko Tipsarevic, booked his place in the last 16, beating Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine in three sets 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 in the third round at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami on Sunday. The match lasted for two hours and
five minutes.
Tipsarevic struck straightaway, snatching a breaking in the opening game of the first set and capitalising on it to gain a 2-0 lead. Dolgopolov hit back in the eighth to even out the score at 4-4. However, the comeback did not
last long, as the Ukrainian dropped next two games to lose it 4-6.
The ninth seed, Tipsarevic, fired three aces and pocketed 10 of the 14 first serve points. The Serbian did well on the second returns, bagging 11 of the 17 points on them in the opener.
In the second set, both players held their serve in the first eleven games to take the score to 6-5 in favour of the Ukrainian. Finally, it was Dolgopolov who broke Tipsarevic in the 12th game to win it 7-5.
Tipsarevic smashed four aces compared to two by Dolgopolov but the Serbian also committed a couple of double faults. Dolgopolov saved both break points he faced and utilised the only opportunity he received in the second set.
The Ukrainian let slip the winning momentum, losing his serve twice in the first four games to tail 0-4. Tipsarevic did not do the same mistake and clinched the decider 6-2.
Dolgopolov served poorly, delivering just 41 percent of the first serves. The Ukrainian managed to win just five of the 13 second delivery points and could not avoid two of the three break threats he came across in the final set.
Tipsarevic said, in the post match press conference, “It’s much easier to play against him if you have a break lead, especially against him, because he’s really tricky and you don’t know what to expect. A few of the times he looks
like he’s not even trying to win; he’s like pissed at himself for being on the court, and then out of nowhere, it’s love-30 or love-4o on your serve. So I’m happy that in the first and in the third set, I managed the early breaks better. I had semi-chances
in the second set which I did not use, and this resulted on him breaking me on forehand-backhand slices.”
The Serbian is pitted against Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria in the fourth round.
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