Juan Martin Del Potro edges past Alexandr Dolgopolov in round one – Dubai Championships 2012
World number ten, Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina, faced a tough draw against the 20th ranked Ukrainian participant, Alexandr Dolgopolov, in the opening round clash of the Dubai Duty Free Championships on Tuesday. After an intense battle of an hour and 33 minutes, the eighth seed Argentine dumped the Ukrainian in straight sets 6-3, 7-6(5).
Both the players had faced-off earlier in the third round of the Indian Wells Masters last year. Del Potro was lucky on that occasion with a tight two-setter triumph. He had the psychological advantage but it had little effect on the match. The scores definitely don’t do justice with the Ukrainian who deserved a shot at the third set.
The match started off with breakthroughs from both ends before the players capitalized on their serves to push the scores to 2-2. Del Potro put his competitor under a lot of pressure in the sixth game; forcing him to commit several unforced errors and bagging the second successful breakpoint of the set. The scores were further enhanced to 5-2 with a comprehensive serve hold from the Argentine.
Dolgopolov was once again under the cosh; saved two back-to-back breakpoints to register a serve hold. Del Potro served for the set; after facing a bit of resistance from his opponent, he bagged the set with ease and marched on with an initial lead.
The second set started in an exciting fashion. Both players were testing each other on their serves, making their opponents work for their points. First six games went by with scores ticking over to 3-3. The first breakpoints of the set went in favour of the Argentine who delicately placed a drop shot to the left corner of the court and wrong footed his opponent.
Dolgopolov bounced back into the contest after two games; registering a comprehensive breakpoint. Del Potro had already gifted him two points through unforced errors and he coupled them with a couple of eye-startling winners down the line to tie the scores at 5-5.
Both players hung on to their respective serves in the following games to enforce a tie-breaker round. An early mini-break to the Argentine worked in her favour that earned him the critical second round win. He progresses to the next round of the tournament where he squares-off against the Kazakh professional, Andrey Golubev. He will look to perform well and move into the quarter-finals of the tournament.
Tags: