Potito Starace defeats Viktor Troicki; moves into the third round of Internazionali BNL d’Italia
Unseeded Italian pro Potito Starace surprised home spectators at the 2011 Internazionali BNL d’Italia, ousting fifteenth seeded Viktor Troicki in straight sets to enter the third round of the tournament. The Italian pro needed
only one hour and forty six minutes to get past the second-ranked Serbian.
The 29-year-old Starace looked very nimble from the beginning and used his two-handed backhands to devastating effect. The Italian tennis pro converted four of eight breakpoints, en route to a 6-4, 6-4 victory in just 106 minutes
of play. Troicki on the other hand looked completely out of form and his foot work was poor, at time, worse. He continued to struggle with his second serve and couldn’t manage to win more than 39 percent on them. The Italian on the other hand was far better
with 54 percent of points on his first serves and 60 percent of the service points in total. Sure the crowd was completely against him but that is not a reason for the player who used to play good under such pressure.
Starace appeared to have studied the world number fifteen and predicted his every move intelligently. He continued to play with intensity in the first set and scored 65 percent on his service, 44 percent on return and 53 percent
of points in total. Starace saved three of four breakpoints and commendably went to break Troicki’s serve, showing the world that he too has some outstanding clay court abilities. The Serbian came under huge pressure and handed over the first set to delight
the Italian crowd.
Looking at the stats of the match it was quite clear that the Italian was putting it all on the line while Troicki played more conservatively and completely disappointed his fans. Starace sealed the second set with one break of
serve in his hand. Starace earned 58 percent of points on his first serve and converted two of the four breakpoints. His opponent, Troicki had six break points, but he failed to convert those and lost the final set on a tame note.
Starace now moves on ahead to face fourth seeded Andy Murray in the third round of the tournament. Starace will look to avenge his only loss to Murray as the two men face each other at the third round on Thursday. Pair’s first
and last meeting came at the French Open where the Scot defeated the Italian in the second round of the tournament. As the players are meeting for the second time at the ATP World tour match it is difficult to predict that who will take the lead. However,
it looks as if the Italian will work hard to book his berth at the quarterfinals of Rome Masters for the first time in his career.
Tags: