Janko Tipsarevic reaches semi-finals of the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships
Sixth seed Janko Tipsarevic continued his brilliant form at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships 2011 as he ousted his quarterfinal opponent Ivan Dodig of Croatia in straight sets, 7-6, 6-1 on Friday.
Tipsarevic took merely 80 minutes to outplay his competitor and advance to the semi-finals of the tournament.
The 26-year-old Serb proved himself a better player than Dodig in most segments of the game. He had to fight hard in the opening set of the game but clinched the following set with ease.
“I’m really not trying to think about (taking my first ATP World Tour title), even though it’s there in my mind,” said Tipsarevic after the match. “I think I have the quality to have an ATP title under my belt, but it just hasn’t happened for me yet.”
Dodig started the match in an aggressive manner and looked in good rhythm. The Croat belted eight aces in the match while Tipsarevic could only manage four. His first serve percentage of 68 was also better than Tipsarevic’s 64.
The cutting edge for the Serb was his ability to convert points. He bagged 32 of the 38 first serve points and converted 15 of 21 second serve points. Although Tipsarevic’s return points figure appeared a bit low at 38 per cent, it was still far better than
Dodig’s 20 per cent.
The rock solid baseline defence of Tipsarevic denied Dodig of three break points while the Serb cashed in on all of his chances.
The opening set kicked off with both men trying to get the better of the other. None of the players even got closer to the serve breaks and held their serves to take the score to 6-6. Tipsarevic converted 83 per cent of his total serve points in the first
set while the Croat followed him with 68 per cent.
A tiebreaker was enforced to decide the first set. It was an all-Tipsarevic show as the Serb did not give away a single point to his opponent. He reeled off seven straight points with complete assertion to seal the opening set 7-6.
The dejected Croat appeared in tremendous pressure in the following set and looked in no shape to compete his tough rival. Dodig converted just 67 per cent of the first serve points and 29 per cent of his second serve points in the whole set. Some unforced
errors for Tipsarevic gave him the chances to break his serve on three different occasions but the Croat wasted all the chances.
Tipsarevic never lost his serve in the second set and consolidated his 3-0 early lead in an aggressive fashion. The Serb went through the rest of the games very quickly, finishing the contest by taking the set 6-1.
The Serb will be squaring off against Japan’s Kei Nishikori to take a place in the final of the Delray Beach event. Nishikori overwhelmed the American qualifier Ryan Sweeting 6-7, 6-2, 6-4 in Friday’s other quarterfinal.
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