Viktor “Vik” Troicki undoes Swede Michael Ryderstedt in 1st rubber – Davis Cup 2011: SWE vs SRB QF
Overflowing with Swedish fans, the Halmstad Arena, Halmstad was the arena for the first rubber between the worlds No.16 Viktor “Vik” Troicki of Serbia and Michael Ryderstedt of Sweden. The match was played on hard Indoor court.
Sweden and Serbia stand at a levelled 4-4 head-to-head in the Davis Cup (DC). Michael has yet to play a match in this season, making this his first fixture of 2011. Ranked at world No.297, the only benefit that the Swede had was
of the home court.
Surely, prediction was made that the World No.16 would win the match easily. Apart from that the Serbian has been in satisfying form currently, winning 28 of the 43 matches he played in 2011 season. Vik has a career high ranking
of world No.12 and has one title to his name. Troicki, considered to be a hard court player, has never faced Ryderstedt making this their first encounter.
Ryderstedt, however, has a career highest ranking of world No.130. Undoubtedly the Serbian had a technical advantage which led to win him the first rubber for his country. Vik had already proved himself useful in the Davis Cup
statically. The former World No.12 had played twelve matches on hard court in his DC career, winning eight and losing only four.
The match was started by the host opponent. Serving first, the world No.16 played exquisite ground strokes and made only 2 forced errors winning the set by 6 games to 3. Troicki pulled off the set with 5 aces and won 11 out of
13 points on 1st serves securing a 1-0 lead on Michael.
The second set seemed more like a practice match for the Serbian. Showing no mercy to the Swede player, Troicki bagged the next set as well. Winning only one game of the 2nd set, Ryderstedt lost the second set 1-6 to
the world No.16.
The match did not end in the third set as it was expected to. Ryderstedt, serving first, regained his momentum and won the third set on a tiebreaker. However, the Swede did struggle in his service giving away five double faults.
The third set ended with the set score 7-6(6).
In the decider set for Viktor Troicki, the Serbian took away all hopes from the fans serving 11 spectacular aces and a service winner. The former world No.12 won a total of 41 points in the last set taking away the set and the
match from the struggling Swede 3-6, 1-6, 7-6(6), 5-7. The match lasted for 2 hours and 49 minutes. Serbians are enjoying a 1-0 lead and are focusing to make it 2-0 in the next rubber between Swede Ervin Eleskovic and world No.29 Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia.
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