Matteo Viola beats Ivo Mijic to reach the qualifying competition – Croatia Open Umag 2012
Seeded at number one in the tournament draw, Matteo Viola of Italy, registered a comprehensive straight sets victory over the bleak German opponent, Ivo Mijic, in the second round qualifiers of the ATP VEGETA Croatia Open Umag.
The 25-year-old Italian took one hour and 25 minutes to wrap up the proceedings at 7-5, 6-1, reaching the qualifying competition for the main draw.
Being played on the outdoor clay courts of the international Tennis Center in Umag, Croatia, Viola displayed his real talent to take the better of his opponent. He had to overcome the early resistance from Mijic and once he got
the opening set in his bag, it was an all-Italian show. 160th ranked Viola blasted his way past the German in the second set of the match, registering a breadstick and sparing just one game for his opponent before concluding his thumping victory.
The Italian top seed delivered 67 per cent of his serve on target, coughing seven doubles faults in total but claiming 29 out of 50 first serve points to compensate for it. He had nine break opportunities in the match and converted
six of them to route Mijic, who squandered away a number of vital chances in the match to finish on the losing side in the end. The unseeded German had 11 break points but he frittered away eight of them, converting merely three points in his favour to remain
at a disadvantage throughout the contest. Mijic had his opportunities in the contest but his error-ridden game play didn’t allow him to cash in those precious chances. He kept on paying sloppy tennis in the following set as well, with most of his shots landing
longer and wider of the court to gift away points to his opponent.
The opener took off with an exchange of break points from both ends right away. Mijic broke again in the seventh game, only to be broken in the very next game. Two more serve breaks being registered from both sides took the scores
to 5-5. A tie-break was about to come into play but Mijic failed to hold his vital serve in the 12th game, gifting away the first set to the top seed Italian at 5-7. Viola carried on his impetus in the following set and two successive break points
took him to a majestic 5-0 lead. He held his next serve to close out the matchup at 6-1, moving a step closer to the main rounds.
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