Somdev Devvarman, Dusan Lajovic clear the first round – St. Petersburg Open 2011
India’s Somdev Devvarman had least trouble in the opening round clash of the St. Petersburg Open, defeating the unseeded Slovakian, Karol beck, on Tuesday evening.
The local crowd at the indoor hard courts of the Petersburg Sports and Concert Complex in Saint Petersburg, Russia, witnessed a brilliant display of sheer dominance from the 84th ranked Indian. Devvarman wrapped up victory
in straight sets, 6-2, 6-3, taking merely 68 minutes of play to make his way to the second round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 event.
It was Devvarman’s 20th World Tour-level victory in the running season and a much needed one as well, as the Indian had already suffered 23 defeats this year so far. He took hold of the game right from the beginning
and never let it go throughout the contest. Devvarman dropped merely five points on his first serve to clinch 24 out of 29 points en route to victory.
The Indian converted five of his six break points in the matchup, while the Slovakian registered just one break of serve in the entire contest to finish on the losing side in the end. A total of 102 points were played in the match
and Devvarman clinched 60 out of them, while his opponent lagged far behind with 42 points.
Devvarman will face Croatia’s number one tennis player, Marin Cilic, in the next battle to make it to the quarter-finals of the tournament. Fourth seeded Cilic was successful against Sergei Bubka of Ukraine in the opening round
on Tuesday.
Serbian qualifier Dusan Lajovic also made it to the second round of the St. Petersburg Open after defeating the Frenchman, Jeremy Chardy, in the opening round encounter. The Serb took one hour and thirteen minutes to wind up victory
in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, to registering his second World Tour-level victory in the current year.
Chardy couldn’t withstand the aggressive game play of Lajovic and submitted in the second set to let him through. The French completely failed to craft a single break opportunity in the whole matchup and suffered one break point
in each set to lose the contest in the very first round. Lajovic secured 26 out of 34 first serve points in the match and didn’t face any break point to seal victory in the second set.
Up next for Lajovic in the second round is the Israeli Wildcard, Dudi Sela, who outplayed the third seed, Alexandr Dolgopolov in the first round of the tournament.
Tags: