Marin Cilic devastates Albert Montanes to reach round two – Mutua Madrid Open 2012
Marin Cilic of Croatia took his revenge from the 64th ranked Spaniard, Albert Montanes, of the loss in the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters 2010, in the first round of the Mutua Madrid Open on Tuesday. He bagged straight sets
6-3, 6-3 win to book a spot in the next round of the tournament.
Both players registered serve holds in the opening two games of the match. First six games passed by without much drama but the deadlock was broken by the 22nd ranked Croatian who smashed a couple of winners down the
line to register the first breakthrough of the match.
He was tested a bit in the eighth game but survived the scare to register a tight serve hold and consolidate his position with a lead of 5-3. Crowd was stunned at that moment and waiting for a remarkable comeback from their hero
that was no way near. Montanes was under the cosh and gifted another breakthrough that rounded off the opening set proceedings in quick succession.
Spanish wildcard entrant was low on confidence right from the start. He was limited in his shot making by some eye-startling display from the visitor that frustrated the host. Cilic didn’t waste a single opportunity to pound on
the 31-year-old veteran and took benefit of his quick footwork to power down his rival.
In the fourth game of the second set, the first breakthrough was witnessed that went in favour of the in-form Croatian. Cilic struck a couple of mind-startling winners in the following game to bag an easy serve hold and register
a resounding lead of 4-1.
Last three games of the match took most of the time. Both players saved up to seven breakpoints with Cilic being the luckiest contender to have survived five of them. The match ended in just an hour and 18 minutes helping the Croatian
to book a date with the American number one, John Isner, who is also the eighth seed player of the tournament.
Isner received a first round Bye courtesy to his superior ranking and is yet to open his account at Madrid this year.
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