Marsel Ilhan stomps over Nicola Barraco to reach round two – Rai Open 2012
Seventh seed, Marsel Ilhan, tumbled over the Italian wild card entrant, Nicola Barraco, in straight sets at the Rai Open 2012, an ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Challenger Tour event taking place in Rome, Italy. He summed up a 6-3, 6-2 victory
against the Italian to charge into the second round on Tuesday.
The Turkish star displayed solid tennis to outgun Barraco in one hour and 14 minutes. As a result, Ilhan comfortably booked a spot in the round of 16 at this red clay court event.
Ilhan thundered into these Italian clay courts and drew the first blood in the opening game to take the initial lead. Despite losing his edge in the very next game, the Turk remained focused and broke his rival’s serve twice, ultimately sealing the opener
by winning six games to three.
He produced a better first serve share and superbly clicked 11 out of 16 points on it. Ilhan also brushed off three out of four breakpoints he faced and capitalised on three out of eight break opportunities.
Ranked 129th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Ilhan kept momentum rolling into the proceeding set and after earning the critical break in the fourth game, he leaped at 4-1. The Turk then kept remaining serves and after breaking his rival’s
serve again in the last game, he clinched the set with a 6-2 score line.
The 24-year-old again manifested a better first serve share and spectacularly registered a perfect win on it. He was never challenged with any breakpoint this time and converted half of the four break opportunities to his advantage.
Up next for the seed is the Portuguese contestant, Joao Sousa, who stomped over the Czech challenger, Dusan Lojda, in straight sets to set-up this battle. The Portuguese lost his serve twice but capitalised on four out of 10 break chances to manipulate a
6-3, 7-5 success.
The second seed, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, will accompany Ilhan in the round of 16. He crushed the German contender, Dustin Brown, with a breadstick in just under an hour to progress at this event.
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