Marin Cilic trounces Daniel Munoz-De La Nava to reach second round – French Open 2012
Seeded 21st in the tournament, Marin Cilic of Croatia dumped the Spanish qualifier, Daniel Munoz-De La Nava, in straight sets at the Roland Garros 2012 on Sunday. He jolted down a 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 success against the veteran to power into the second
round at this clay court Grand Slam event held in Paris, France.
The Croatian ace was trailing twice in the match but stayed calm and carved out the victory in their first encounter. After earning this success, Cilic assertively booked a spot in the round of 64 at this second of the four Grand Slam events.
Cilic made a drastic start at the Court number three and after suffering the first blow in the fourth game, he went 1-4 down. However, the Croat unleashed flurry of groundstrokes reeled off the following five games in a row. He dusted away one out of two
breakpoints he faced and cashed in two out of six break chances to formulate a 6-4 victory.
Ranked 24th in the South African Airways ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour Rankings, Cilic carried his winning momentum into the follow-up set. He earned the coveted break in the fifth game and put his nose ahead. Despite frittering
away his serve in the very next game, the Croat stayed in game and got the breakthrough in the ninth game.
The 23-year-old lost his track again towards the third set and after gifting away his serve, he fell at 1-4. Cilic was trailing 2-5 when he rebounded and reeled off the proceeding five games in a row, subsequently sealing the final set by winning seven games
to five.
All in all, the Croat spilled several unforced errors and double faults but covered it up by smashing 10 vicious aces. He produced a better first serve share of 57 per cent as compared to his rival’s 55 per cent and impressively availed 36 out of 51 points
on it.
Next in line for Cilic is another Spanish challenger, Juan Carlos Ferrero, who triumphed over the local wildcard entrant, Jonathan Dasnieres de Veigy, in straight sets to set-up this battle.
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