Marin Cilic overwhelms Somdev Devvarman to reach the quarter-finals – St. Petersburg Open 2011
Croatia’s number one, Marin Cilic had an early hiccup before overcoming the 84th ranked Indian, Somdev Devvarman, in the second round of the St. Petersburg Open on Thursday evening.
Fourth seeded Cilic battled for two hours and sixteen minutes of play before settling the three-setter at 5-7, 6-1, 6-3, to make a berth in the quarter-final rounds of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250
event.
Devvarman was off to a good start and pocketed the opener after a stiff fight to get one up early in the contest but gradually lost his steam as the game progressed. He was completely blown away by the world number 22 in the next
two sets to finish his voyage in tournament in a dejected manner.
Being played on the indoor hard courts of the Petersburg Sports and Concert Complex in Saint Petersburg, Russia, the contest witnessed a brilliant turn around by the fourth seed Cilic. The Croat registered his 40th victory
of the running season to avenge his defeat from the Indian, who outplayed him in Washington in 2009.
23-year-old Croat belted 60 per cent of his serve on target, cracking in 13 thudding aces and reeling off 41 out of 53 points en route to victory. Cilic converted five of his 12 break opportunities in the matchup, while Devvarman
registered two out of three breaks of serve to finish on the losing side in the end.
Both contestants had a steady start in the opening set and the first serve break of the day came from the Indian in the ninth game. A further exchange of serve breaks from both men finished off the first set at 7-5 in Devvarman’s
favour, giving him a 1-0 lead in the contest.
Tide turned in the following set when the fourth seed came out firing at his opponent and nailed two successive serve breaks to fly away to 5-0 lead in the set. Cilic closed out the second set at 6-1 and carried on his wining momentum
in the final set to race to 3-1 lead. Cilic stung his decisive break point in the ninth game to conclude his comprehensive victory at 6-3.
Cilic will next meet the unseeded Italian Andreas Seppi in his next clash to fight for a spot in the final four at the St. Petersburg. Seppi stood victorious against Igor Andreev of Russia in the second round, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, to
make it to the quarter-finals of the tournament.
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