Tatsuma Ito slaughters Ti Chen in the opening round qualifiers – 2012 Brisbane International
Tatsuma Ito of Japan went berserk at his Chinese rival, Ti Chen, in the first qualifying round of the 2012 Brisbane International tournament, contested in Brisbane, Australia, on Saturday. Both players locked horns on hard courts for the second time their
career. It was a perfect chance for the Chinese tennis ace to level the head-to-head tally but he failed to do so. It took just an hour and 5 minutes for the Japanese to slaughter his competitor with a final score of 6-2, 6-2.
The Japanese tennis ace started off the contest in style, breaking his opponent’s serve in the first game to take a 2-0 lead upfront. Both players continued to hold their serves and exchanged several lengthy rallies to take the scores to 4-2. It was getting
easier for the superior ranked Japanese and he didn’t waste any time clinching the first set.
Trailing one set down and struggling to get momentum in the game, the Chinese competitor looked promising at the start but couldn’t hold on to his impetus in the later parts of the game. He won the first game on his serve and smashed breathtaking winners
in the second but failed to deal with rocket-paced serves of his competitor. Chen was close to break his rival’s serve but the Japanese held his nerve and pushed the scores to one game apiece in the second set.
Third game was replica of what everyone had witnessed throughout the contest; Ito was all over his opponent thrashing him on his own serves. He broke in the third game to take a lead with 2-1 score line and held his serve in the next one to take the scores
to 3-1, drawing curtains for 28-years-old Chinese.
Another break for the Japanese and the score pushed to 4-1 but Chen pulled one game back by breaking his opponent’s serve; score line looked a bit respective at that stage but only after few minutes Chen could only see the ball sail past him from the other
corner of the court. Eye-startling winners from the Japanese earned him another break and he took the second set with ease.
This win places Ito in the second round of the qualifiers for the 2012 Brisbane International tournament.
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