Xavier Malisse trounces Edouard Roger-Vasselin to reach round two – Sony Ericsson Open 2012
Belgian ace, Xavier Malisse, edged past the French qualifier, Edouard Roger-Vasselin, in straight sets at the Sony Ericsson Open 2012 on Wednesday. He clobbered a 7-6(3), 6-3 victory over the 28-year-old in the opening round at this Masters 1000 event taking
place on the Floridian hard courts.
Malisse remained on track to claim his fourth ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) career title at this hard court event taking place at Key Biscayne in Miami after dumping the French. Malisse not only avenged his loss at the Australian Open earlier
this circuit but also took lead in the FedEx ATP Head 2 Head series by 2-1 against Roger-Vasselin.
Roger-Vasselin, who was seeded top in the qualifying competition at this event, suffered the first blow in the opening game and subsequently went 2-0 down. He made a fitting reply after that as he snatched his break back in the sixth game and capitalising
on another break chance to go 5-3 up. However, the French lost his edge in the ninth game and consequently bowed out to Malisse.
Ranked 75th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Malisse improved his game in the following set assertively kept entire serves after saving the only breakpoint he encountered. He smashed five aces and converted one out of two
break chances in the sixth game to his advantage, eventually sealing the set by winning six games to three.
Summing up the Belgian’s performance at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park, Malisse summed up a slightly lower first serve share of 62 per cent in contrast with the French’s 64 per cent but magnificently availed 31 out of 42 points on it.
Next in line for Malisse is the French number one, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who got the first round bye at this event. Tsonga is seeded sixth at this tournament and is coming off from a third round appearance at BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells earlier this month.
Lukas Lacko of Slovakia will join the Belgian in the second round. He lost his serve once but broke Ryan Sweeting’s serve three times to book this spot.
The world number 66, Lacko, sought 12 break opportunities and converted three to his advantage, eventually sealing the deal with a 6-4, 6-4 score line in one hour and 23 minutes. The Slovak also took full advantage of the several unforced errors the American
spilled and superbly defended eight out of nine breakpoints he came across.
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