Janko Tipsarevic edges past Potito Starace to reach the semi-final rounds – St. Petersburg Open 2011
World number 13, Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, recovered from an early hiccup to take down the 53rd ranked Italian contestant, Potito Starace, in the quarter-final draw of the St. Petersburg Open on Friday night.
The second seeded Serb continued with his belligerent form to wrap up the three-setter, 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-1, to move in to the semi-final round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 event.
Tipsarevic registered his 51st victory of the running season to book a berth in his eight semi-final of the year. He had already defeated the Italian opponent at the same venue in 2008 and his Friday’s victory improved
his head-to-head lead by 2-0 against Starace. Tipsarevic came to Saint Petersburg immediately after bagging his second ATP World Tour championship title in Moscow.
The second seed was off to a worrying start in the opening set and was outdone by the brilliance of Starace in the tie breaker round to trail 0-1 in the matchup. Tipsarevic recovered from the deficit with great mastery, turning
the tables on the Italian opponent in the last two sets of the match to drive him out of the competition. He dropped just three games in the last two sets and raced away to victory in style.
Tipsarevic’s 52 per cent serve included 12 cracking aces in it and he clinched 35 out of 42 first serve points in the game to come out as the winner. He converted four out of nine break points in the matchup, while Starace utterly
failed to register a single break point in the entire contest to finish on the losing side in the end.
Both contestants failed to record a break of serve in the opening set of the match, taking the game into a tie breaker round. Tipsarevic was outplayed in the decider, submitting the first set to the Italian opponent at 6-7(6) but
came out firing at Starace in the very next set to get control of the momentum. He broke the Italian serve two times in a row to seize the second set at 6-2 and nailed two more break points in the final set to conclude victory at 6-1.
Tipsarevic will take on the seventh seeded American, Alex Bogomolov, on Saturday evening to earn a title spot in the final of the tournament. Bogomolov rooted out the Serbian qualifier, Dusan Lajovic, in straight sets 6-2, 6-1,
in the quarter-finals to book a date with the belligerent second seed in the semis of the St. Petersburg Open.
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