Pere Riba defeats Potito Starace; reaches the second round of Monte Carlo Rolex Masters
A qualifier into the tournament, Pere Riba of Italy played the toughest match on Tuesday, as he was tested a bit by Italian Potito Starace. However, the surging Spaniard emerged successful in the end with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 score
line and advanced into the second round of the Monte Carlo Tournament, an ATP world tour 1000 Event, being played in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France. With this win, Riba has extended his season win tally to seven matches.
Regardless of the disappointing nature of his defeat, it was a respectable trip to France for the Italian as he struggled hard till the end of the match. Riba on the other hand displayed his excellent tennis skills to edge past
his Italian opponent to get into the second round at the Monte Carlo Masters.
Riba took two hours and eleven minutes to win this match, as he fired in two aces and mustered 65 percent on his first serves and 56 percent on his second serves. Though, the Spaniard double faulted five times, he made up for it
by hammering two aces and converting seven out of ten breakpoints to his advantage. Although Starace did play well, it was only in the opening set, as he converted only three of ten break point opportunities to his advantage.
Even though 23-year-old Riba lost the first set, he bounced back with a 53 percent of points in total while his Italian opponent hung back with a mere 47 percent and giving away the match. This was the pair’s second meeting on
tour with their first having been one year ago at the German Open Tennis Championships where Starace had defeated Riba in a gruelling fight round of 16 matchup.
In the second round, Riba will take on world number twenty two Marin Cilic who beat Filippo Volandri in straight sets with a 6-2, 6-1 score line.
Riba has played fourteen matches in the year so far winning seven of them. The most recent match he lost was at the quarterfinals of Casablanca, Morocco where he was defeated by Pablo Andujar of Spain in straight set. The Spaniard
hasn’t won even a single career title so far, but from his current performance at the tournament it does look like that he will try his best to get one.
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