Marin Cilic undoes Florent Serra in the second round at BNP Paribas Open
World Number 20 Marin Cilic of Croatia managed to oust French Florent Serra in two easy sets at the second round of the 2011 ATP Masters 1000 Indian Wells event, upsetting the opponent in just fifty five minutes. His opponent was
once ranked as high as 35th in the world though now he ranks 73 in the world.
The Croatian who turned professional in 2005 has five titles to his name so far. He is currently 22 years old and plays right handed. Throughout his tennis career, he has featured in 28 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 level matches,
half of which he has won. One of these victories came over Florent Serra in Zagreb, Croatia, where he defeated the French 6-2, 7-5 wrapping up their first official head-to-head in his favor 1-0. Serra himself is even more experienced than his opponent, having
started professional tennis in 2000 at the age of 19. The currently 30 year old is ranked 73th in the world, 53 places below Cilic.
The match started with Cilic playing exquisitely as he hit 7 aces. He landed 59 percent of his first serves in contrast to the slightly low 47 percent that his opponent managed. Conversion of serves into points was only the Croatian’s
forte, as he quickly wrapped up his service games by winning a whopping 100 per cent of his on-serve points, compared to a meager 47 per cent Serra came up with although Cilic failed to face a single break point.
Ultimately the Croatian was able to clinch a win for himself in the set, registering a 6-1 win.
The second set was more of the same pattern. This time though, Serra managed to serve much better. He delivered 76 percent of his first serves correctly, while his Croatian’s opponent's accuracy fell to 62 percent. The Croatian
was the stronger convertor of the two again, as he won 88 percent of the points on his serve. This time his opponent concluded the second set by winning 60 percent, much better in contrast to his prior performance was concerned.
The Croatian had no difficulty in dominating the court once again as he wrapped up a victory in the second set 6-3.
Croatian, emerging victorious today, has improved his year-to-date win/loss record to 13-5. The Croatian will next face world number fourteen Stanislas Wawrinka in the next round. This will be the 7th meeting between these two
players. Wawrinka leads Serra 4-2 in the head-to-head record. However, given their last meeting at the 2010 Australian Open, the 22-year-old defeated Wawrinka in four straight sets 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3.
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