Robin Haase defeats Kristijan Mesaros to reach the second round – PBZ Zagreb Indoors 2012
Seventh seed, Robin Haase of Netherlands, pounced over the wild card entrant, Kristijan Mesaros, in straight sets at the PBZ Zagreb Indoors 2012, an ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 series event held on the hard courts after the Australian
Open. He registered a 6-2, 6-3 score line against the 23-year-old Croat to book a spot in the round of 16 on Monday evening.
Dutch number one was nervous at the start of the match but later he found his rhythm and sealed the deal in 57 minutes. He was facing the Croat, ranked 295th in the South African Airways ATP World Rankings, for the first time and without facing
any real challenge, Haase earned the limelight.
World number 62, Haase, made a trembling entry at the opening set and lost his first serve due to a pessimist crowd. However, he made a decent reply as he not only snatched his break back but converted another break chance to his advantage to go 4-1 up.
Later he held remaining serves and bagged the opener with a 6-2 win with another break of serve in the last game.
The Dutch kept momentum rolling into the following set and earned the coveted break in the second game. He then held his remaining serves without facing any hurdle and clinched the set with a 6-3 score line.
All in all, Haase proved his class in the match. He failed to fend off the only breakpoint he came across but cashed in half of the eight break chances to his advantage. He clobbered a lower first serve share of 59 percent as compared to the Croat’s 75 percent
and spectacular clicked 22 out of 27 points on it.
Next in line for the Dutch ace is the German challenger, Matthias Bachinger, who dumped the South African contestant, Izak van der Merwe, in straight sets to set-up this clash. He smoothly kept his entire serves and broke the South African’s serve three
times to register a 6-3, 6-3 score line.
Fifth seeded Italian, Andreas Seppi, will assist the Dutch in the round of 16. He brushed off late resistance by the German rising star, Daniel Brands, to formulate a 6-4, 7-6(1) victory. The Italian cashed in the only break opportunity in the last game
of the opening set and bagged it with a 6-4 win. In the following set, Seppi lost his serve in the third game but recovered quickly in the following game. The set eventually went to a tie-breaker where the Italian dominated and won the set with a 7-6(1) score
line.
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