Marsel Ilhan and Ivo Minar march into the second round at the 2011 Rai Open
Turk tennis-pro Marsel Ilhan defeated Peter Polansky of Canada 6-3, 7-5 on Tuesday to reach the second round at the 2011 Rai Open in Rome.
Ilhan looked to dominate right from the start. He made the first serve break of the match in fourth game of the opening set with a glorious backhand winner. World number 10 then had another chance of breaking the serve in the eight
game of the set which he converted successful to gain a 5-2 lead in the set. Ilhan held on to his next serve game to take the set 6-3.
The second set also followed a similar pattern. Having gained the psychological advantage in the match, Ilhan pressurized his opponent even further. He pushed Polansky right back to the baseline and created very difficult angles
to cope with. The Turk claimed the second set 7-5 with a crucial serve break and completed his victory after only 1 hour and 34 minutes of play.
Seeded third at the tournament, Ilhan has been in decent form since the start of this season. He reached the second round of ATP Masters Sony Ericson Open in Miami just a couple of weeks ago. At the Challenger tour he has performed
consistently reaching his career high ranking of world number 87 on 17th January 2011. The 23-year-old is in pursuit of his first title of the year. Polansky on the other hand lacked the fire power and failed to play his natural game under pressure.
Sixth seed Ivo Minar of Czech Republic also secured an easy victory over the Italian Gianluca Naso 6-2, 6-3 to advance in to then next round on the red clay courts in Rome.
The Czech started the first set on a very positive note scoring four straight points in the opening game. Minar adopted an aggressive baseline strategy and smashed some wonderful backhand and forehand winners all over the court.
He tested his opponent’s skills, temperament and technique with his clever chips shots every now and then. The 26 year old took the first set with ease after only 40 minutes of play.
The second set also proved to be very one sided as Minar continued to pressurize his opponent with some crafty tennis. A serve break early in the set allowed him to play his natural game with confidence. Minar clinched the second
set 6-3 to complete his victory in straight sets.
Ranked 130th in the world, Ivo Minar is very capable player. His has a great attacking ability in addition to a strong defence. The 26-year-old will be hoping to improve his ATP ranking significantly with a strong performance
at the ATP Challengers cup.
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