Marsel Ilhan dispenses Nicolas Devilder in the second round qualifiers of the Serbia Open
Second seeded Marcel Ilhan of Turkey outplayed his French opponent, Nicolas Devilder in the second round of the qualifiers of the Serbia Open, being played at the Tennis Center Novak complex in Belgrade, Serbia on Sunday. He wound
up an impactful three-set victory at 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-1, taking two hours and six minutes to make it to the final round of the qualifying draw of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour event.
An enthralling game of tennis was witnessed at the clay-court of Belgrade with the contest being extended to the third set. 31-year-old French veteran had a fiery start to the competition and drove Ilhan out of the opener with
ease. The Turkish made a tremendous comeback in the game, reeling off the next two sets to secure victory.
23-year-old Ilhan displayed his strong character and sheer determination to defeat Devilder after being one set down in the contest. His below par first serve percentage of 48 was still better than the Frenchman’s 42 per cent,
yet Ilhan failed to crack any serve break in the first set. The aggressive Devilder broke early in the first set to get the upper hand in the contest. The Turkish competitor had two opportunities to break serve but he squandered the both chances to remain
at a disadvantage. Devilder eventually sealed the opener at 6-3.
Ilhan proved his amazing tennis skills in the second set and converted two of the five break opportunities. His rival replied with two break points to nullify his advantage and bring him back on even terms. Ilhan impressively raised
his first serve precision to 70 per cent in the second set and secured 18 of 28 points on it. A stiff contest among the two men took the set into a tie breaker round. The Turk got the better of his opponent in the tie breaker and bagged the second set at 7-6(4)
to level the competition with one set a piece.
The final set was a brilliant display of Turkish dominance, with Ilhan devastating Devilder with his powerful ground strokes. He clouted three serve breaks with his 74 per cent accurate first serve in the third set. The sloppy
Frenchman eventually succumbed at 1-6 to allow Ilhan enter the final round of the qualifiers at Belgrade.
Ilhan will square off against the seventh seed Adrian Ungur of Romania in the next round to qualify for the main draws of the Serbia Open. Ungur outplayed Michail Elgin of Russia in the second round qualifiers.
Tags: