Mumbai: Second-seeded Croatian Mario Ancic launched his campaign in the ATP Tour's inaugural Mumbai Open with a runaway 6-3, 6-2 victory over Russia's Igor Kunitsyn on Monday.
Overcoming the heat and humidity of Mumbai, Ancic, 22, served 11 aces as he held service throughout the match and broke Kunitsyn three times.
Ranked world No 11, Ancic scored a service break in the fourth game of the first set, and then in the first and third games of the second set. "You don't get any cheap points on this court, but I'm happy that I served well," said Ancic.
"The heat and humid conditions here are very tough," said Ancic, who earlier this month entered the final of the China Open on his return to competitive tennis after injury forced a two-month layoff.
Ranked second behind top-seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo in Mumbai, Ancic lost the China Open title to Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus.
Joining Ancic in the second round is sixth-seeded Bjorn Phau of Germany, who gave a 6-0, 6-3 drubbing to India's wild card entry Karan Rastogi.
Rastogi, ranked 359th on the ATP roster, was no match for world No 66 Phau, who hurtled down 12 aces.
"I've been working hard on my speed and coordination," said Phau. "I covered the court quite well and also got my backhand working today."
Rastogi said he was rattled by Phau's powerful game. "He was serving bombs, sending down two or three aces in every game," said Rastogi.
"I was completely outplayed in the first set, but had a few chances in the second," he said.
Italian Stefano Galvani advanced to the second round when he rallied from a first-set deficit to defeat Czech Republic's Robin Vik 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, while Japan's Gouichi Motomura prevailed 3-6, 6-0, 7-6 (5) against Jasper Smit of the Netherlands.
James Auckland of Britain defeated Germany's Frank Moser 6-1, 6-4, but Michael Berrer of Germany made the second round with a 6-1, 7-6 (3) victory over Konstantinos Economidis of Greece.
Comments
0 comment