Marin Cilic prevails over Andreas Seppi in the opening round – Rogers Cup 2011
Croatian Marin Cilic, ranked 29th in the world, dismissed world number 52 Andreas Seppi of Italy in straight sets 7-5, 6-4 in the first round at the Rogers Cup in Montreal on Monday. The match lasted for an hour and
31 minutes.
Cilic started the match strongly, breaking the Italian in the very first game and claiming his own serve in the next game to take a 2-0 lead. Seppi broke back in the sixth game to equalise the score at 3-3. The Croatian and Seppi
held their serve in the next four games to take the score to 5-5. Cilic broke the Italian again in the eleventh game and consolidated on it to claim the set 7-5.
The Croatian served very well as he smacked 56 percent of the first serves and six aces in the opening set. The six feet and six inches tall won a whopping fifteen of the eighteen first service points and ten of the 27 first return
points. The Monte Carlo resident failed to save the one break point he faced but won two of the eight break points he received on Seppi’s serve in the first set.
In a similar fashion to the first set, Cilic broke Seppi in the opening game and held his serve in the next game, grabbing a 2-0 lead. The Italian broke back in the fourth game, levelling the score at 2-2. Cilic broke Seppi again
in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead and capitalised on the break of serve to win the set 6-4.
The Croatian captured twelve of the fourteen first service points and capitalised on both break point opportunities he created on the Italian’s serve in the second set.
Cilic is playing for the fourth straight year at the Rogers Cup. In his maiden appearance here in 2008, the Croatian gave his best performance as he beat Spaniard Tommy Robredo, ranked 14th in the world at that time,
in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 in the second round. He went on to upset the then world number 6 Andy Roddick of USA in three sets 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the round of 16. However, Cilic could not qualify for the semi-finals, losing to Frenchman Gilles Simon in three sets
6-3, 2-6, 3-6 in the quarterfinals. The Croatian failed to match that performance in the next two appearances as he failed to clear the first round on both occasions. He was upset by Mikhail Youzhny of Russia in three sets 6-4, 6-7(4), 1-6 in the first round
in 2009. Cilic was beaten by Serbian Viktor Troicki in straight sets 4-6, 6-7(2) in the opening round last year.
The Croatian will face sixteenth seed Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina in the round of 32.
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