Mardy Fish struggles pass Santiago Giraldo in the first round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia
Amazing comeback from the world number 11, Mardy Fish from the United States, as he outplayed the 60th ranked Colombian, Santiago Giraldo in the opening round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia at the Foro Italico in
Rome, Italy on Monday. The American rallied past his opponent in a three-set thriller at 4-6, 6-2, 6-2, to make it to the second round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 1000 event.
The 11th seeded Fish exhibited his brilliant tennis skills to register his 14th victory of the running ATP season on the clay courts of Rome. The American continued his clean run against Giraldo, defeating
him for a third consecutive time and leading the head-to-head 3-0. He secured victory over Giraldo twice last year in stiff contests and had to labour hard to accomplish victory this time round as well. The Colombian had a magnificent start to the game and
bagged the opening set to get early advantage in the competition. Fish made a tremendous comeback right back into the game by winning the second set and then went further to clinch the decider to conclude an emphatic victory.
29-year-old American veteran was off to a sloppy start in the opener and took time to get settled in the match. Fish secured 34 out of 48 first serve points in the contest, while breaking his opponent six out of 16 times. His opponent
also gave a tough time to Fish and stung three break points out of the five chances he had during the match.
In the second set, Giraldo delivered 82 percent of his serve on target and struck two serve breaks to wrap up the opener at 6-4. Giraldo couldn’t carry on his winning momentum and his flare faded away in the following set. His
first serve drastically fell to just 58 percent in the second set and Fish stung two vital serve breaks to clinch the second set at 6-2.
It all came to the decisive third set and the American got hold of it early to inch closer to victory. Fish dominated most of the time in the third set, breaking Giraldo three times and sealing victory at 6-2. His second round
competitor will either be Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia or the Italian wildcard, Flavio Cipolla. The two competitors with encounter on Tuesday and the winner will take on Fish in the second round at Rome.
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