Jasper Juinen/Getty Images
Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel
Lucky loser Florent Serra—who received late entry into the tournament when Vienna champ Jurgen Melzer withdrew—withstood 28 aces from Ivo Karlovic, ousting the Croatian 7-6 (5), 6-4.
Serra, who advanced to the quarterfinals in Lyon, France last week, won 84 percent of his first serve points and 77 percent of his second serve points throughout the one hour and 17 minute contest.
By contrast, Karlovic, who seldom posts poor serving statistics, won a shocking 38 percent of his second serve points (8-21), while being broken once in the ninth game of the second set.
The tall serving Croatian fell to 22-22 on year, losing his sixth straight match on tour.
Serra, who improved to 24-28 on the season, will next face either No. 5 seed Radek Stepanek or Rainer Schuettler. The Czech and German will lock horns later on Monday.
Elsewhere, Andreas Seppi overcame a first set to defeat local wildcard Stephane Bohli, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5.
Bohli, who has yet to win a Tour match this season (0-4), delighted his local supporters by capturing the first set on the strength of two breaks of serve. The 26-year-old Swiss, ranked No. 148 in the world, couldn't maintain his form in the second set, losing his serve on three occasions.
With the third set remaining leveled, Seppi capitalized on a late service break at 6-5 to serve out the match.
The victory improved Seppi's modest season win-loss mark to 23-29, while recording his first win at the event in two attempts. Seppi was a first round loser in 2005 to Fernando Gonzalez.
Seppi will now await the winner of the day's last match between world No. 1 Roger Federer vs. Oliver Rochus.
Federer, who has been off Tour since helping Switzerland propel back into the World Group of the Davis Cup, returns to his home tournament for the 10th time.
Federer will take a 6-0 head-to-head lead over his good friend Rochus into their first round match. The pair have known each other since junior competition, and Federer has always held high praise for Rochus' terrific one-handed backhand.
Rochus, who advanced to his first Tour final in two seasons two weeks ago in Stockholm, prefers the indoor surface and will be keen on testing Federer's layoff form early.
Federer's first round encounter with Rochus will also be the first time the 15-time Grand Slam participates in the new Roger Federer Arena, which was previously called the St. Jakobshalle Arena.
Valencia Open 500—Spain
Former world No. 9 Tomas Berdych advanced to the second round of the inaugural fall edition of the Valencia Open 500 on Monday, defeating Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-3, 6-4.
Berdych, who has one Tour title to his credit this season (Munich), completely dominated the one hour 19 minute affair by winning 88 percent of his first serve points, while breaking Mathieu's serve on two of four occasions.
The powerful Czech, who will represent his country in the upcoming Davis Cup final in Spain, improved his year-to-date record to 34-23, while picking up his first ever win in Valencia.
The spectacular new Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias complex, which is hosting the event in the Ágora building, provides natural lighting throughout its fin-shaped roof.
The 5,500 seat Center Court crowd remained in awe as they took in the Berdych-Mathieu match, while admiring the breathtaking surrounding architecture.
Elsewhere, Albert Montanes, who is one of 13 Spaniards in the main draw, defeated countryman Roberto Bautista-Agut 6-1, 3-6, 6-4.
Montanes' seven previous trips to Valencia had taken place when the event was held in the spring. Prior to today's win over Bautista-Agut, Montanes success at that tournament was highlighted in 2004, when lost to Fernando Verdasco.
Montanes, who has enjoyed his best season to date on Tour, has won two clay court titles in Estoril (d. Blake) and Romania (d. Monaco).
The 28-year-old Spaniard was simply too strong for his younger countryman on Monday. Bautista-Agut, who was participating in the first main draw Tour event of his career, qualified for the event after defeating Steve Darcis and top seed Robert Kendrick.
Currently ranked No. 315 on the computer rankings, Bautista-Agut has exclusively participated on the Futures and Challenger circuits.
Montanes, who converted on three of five break point opportunities throughout his one hour and 55 minute victory, will next face either No. 8 seed David Ferrer or Nicolas Almagro.
Valencia born Ferrer will be eager to put forth a deep showing this week, while Almagro, who captured his lone title of the season in Acapulco (d. Monfils), will be looking to improve on his stellar 13-2 lifetime record in Valencia, which includes two titles (2006, 2007) and a runner up finish in 2008.
Spanish success continued on day one action, with Guillermo Garcia-Lopez ousting German Simon Gruel 7-5, 6-2.
Garcia-Lopez, who captured his first career title earlier this season in Kitzbuhel (d. Benneteau), won the first set against Greul by striking two aces and holding a perfect three for three mark on break point conversions.
With the first set in hand, Garcia-Lopez improved his points won on first serves to 87 percent, compared with the first set which he won 58 percent. The 26-year-old Spaniard also converted on two of three break point opportunities, while not allowing a single break point against his own delivery.
Greul, who has seen a steady increase in his ranking all season, fell to 15-15 on the year. With his loss to Garica-Lopez, Greul dropped only his second first round match of the season.
Garcia-Lopez will now await the winner of either No. 6 seed Gael Monfils or fellow Spaniard Marcel Granollers.
The day's final match, which is currently underway, has No. 2 seed Nikolay Davydenko up an easy set and a hold over Alejandro Falla from Columbia.
Davydenko, who remains in desperate pursuit of capturing one of the two remaining spots for the Barclays ATP World Tour finals in London, trails Falla 1-0 in career head-to-head meetings.
The pair last met at Wimbledon in 2006 (Davydenko's worst surface), with Falla winning in four close sets.
Please check back on Tuesday for continuing daily coverage from Basel and Valencia.
0 Comments
Loading more comments...
This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete