Janko Tipsarevic fights past Guillaume Rufin into the second round – US Open 2012
Seeded eighth at the event, Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia proved his class, as he came back after getting two sets to love down to outlast Frenchman, Guillaume Rufin, 4-6, 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 in the opening round of the US Open in
New York on Wednesday.
Tipsarevic and Rufin exchanged a break of serve in the first six games, levelling the score at 3-3. The Serbian lost his serve in the 10th game to hand over the set to his French rival 6-4.
There was a somewhat similar trend in the second set, as both players struck once in the first half of the second set and took the score to 3-3. Rufin completely dominated the proceedings later on, grabbing three games in a row
to seal it 6-3.
Tipsarevic had already lost two sets and it looked like he would be the first top-10 seeded player to go out of the last Grand Slam of the season. However, Serbian fans’ support helped him to raise the level of his game, as he
dropped just two games in the entire set to capture it 6-2.
The Serbian contender stung a break in the fourth game of the fourth set and held his next serve to race to a 4-1 advantage. He maintained his lead till the end to close it 6-3.
Carrying the winning momentum into the final set, Tipsarevic allowed the French participant to win just two games and bagged it 6-2.
The Serbian will meet USA’s comeback prince, Brian Baker, in the second round. Baker ousted Czech Republic’s Jan Hajek in his opening match.
At the end of the match, Baker shared, "I had some nerves. I don't think it was probably the prettiest match ever. A win is a win. I felt like when I needed to, I played well. I didn't get broken and was probably pretty high percentage
on my conversion rate. That was the difference today. It's just been a blast this last year, and I hope I keep it going for several more."
Tipsarevic will be facing the American player for the first time on the ATP World Tour.
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