Viktor Troicki crushes Thiemo De Bakker in the opening round – ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament 2012
Seventh seed, Viktor Troicki, stomped over the local wild card entrant, Thiemo De Bakker, with a bagel at the 39th ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament on Tuesday. He jolted down a 7-6(6), 6-0 victory over the world number 245 to secure a spot in
the round of 16 in front of a pessimist crowd.
The Belgrade native needed one hour and 23 minutes to outclass the local star in straight sets at this ATP World Tour 500 series event taking place on the hard courts in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Both contestants previously met each other at the Rome Masters
1000 event two years ago and after earning this success, the Serb improved to a 2-0 record in the head-to-head series against Bakker. The stars entered this tournament after successfully overpowering their opponents at the Davis Cup.
"I think we both had a tough start because we came here late, coming from Davis Cup," said Troicki. "I think I handled it well. I got lucky in the first set I think. He played well, but he did not use his set points and I started playing better in the second
set. I’m happy that I won through and am in the second round."
The 26-year-old made a nervy entry at the Ahoy Rotterdam and suffered the first blow in the opening game. However, he recovered in the sixth game and took the set to a tie-breaker. The Serb dominated in it and clinched the opener with a 7-6(6) score line.
Troicki failed to block the only breakpoint he encountered but converted one out of four break chances to his advantage.
The higher ranked went on a six games killing spree in the following set. He unleashed barrage of slices and angled shots to pocket the set with an exceptional 6-0 victory. The Serb was never threatened with any breakpoint and capitalised on three out of
seven break opportunities.
Overall, the world number 24 fired five aces and manipulated a better first serve share of 67 percent as compared to the Dutch’s 54 percent. He also took full advantage of the errors and double faults the Dutch committed.
Next in line for the seventh seed is another local wild card entrant, Jesse Huta Galung, who shocked the Croatian icon, Ivan Ljubicic, in straight sets to reach this spot on Monday. He required one hour and 46-minutes to dump the Croatian veteran in their
first meeting.
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