Murray meets Berrer in opener

"LandepNews"

Murray meets Berrer in opener

Top seed Andy Murray has been set a Michael Berrer opener in Thailand after the German defeated Marco Chiudinelli in two sets 7-6, 6-3 in the first round.

Berrer broke the Italian amid the first term only to be pushed into the tie break. Marco also stole a service from his opponent but failed to set the same pace within the breaker which he eventually lost at four. In the second set, Berrer built up a three game lead after converting his only break point. The German also saved all the six break point chances coming from Chiudinelli to win the meeting in over one hour and a half.

Michael finished the game with a 69 first serve percentage, seven aces, a 37 return percentage and a double fault, winning at the same time 69 percent of service points. On the other side, Marco had a similar first serve percentage, a poor 21 return one, three aces and a couple of double faults. He also converted one out of eight break points and 63 percent of service points.

Berrer will next meet Andy Murray who has been favored by a BYE in the first round and who is also chasing his third title of the season after Queens and Cincinnati successes.

On the second half of the draw, Jarkko Nieminen, who reached the final at least year’s edition, beat Dominic Thiem of Austria in three sets, 6-1, 4-6, 7-5.The Finnish won the first set very easily after breaking his opponent two times, in what seemed to be an easy game for the former runner up. But the second set saw the Austrian break Jarkko twice and push the clash into a third set decider.

Finally, the last round was dominated by the same Nieminen although he had to fight harder for the victory. Thiem threatened with a tie break but a late break helped the favorite to close the meeting earlier. Nieminen came up with a 67 first serve percentage, five aces, three double faults, a 45 return percentage and a 65 service one.

He also converted five out of seven break points, compared to Thiem’s 49 first serve percentage, three aces, two double faults, a 35 return percentage and a 55 service one. The Finnish will next meet Robin Haase of Holland who ousted Kittipong Wachiramanowong 6-3, 7-6.

“It was difficult because I was lying in bed ill most of the past three days. I’m feeling better and better all the time and I felt in many stages I was playing well. This young guy is very talented. I don’t want to take anything from him he played a great match,” said Jarkko after the win.

His next opponent Haase, who is seeded seventh in Bangkok, beat Kittipong in two sets, 6-3, 7-6. The Dutch won the first set very easily, managing to break his opponent three times. The second set saw Wachiramanowong push the Dutch into a breaker which Haase eventually won with ease, 7-1.

He won 57 percent of first serve points, hit nine aces, committed two double faults and converted four out of 11 break points. On the other side, Kittipong had a 67 first serve percentage, a 33 return one and three aces. He also won 56 percent of service points and converted two out of three break points.

One of the biggest surprises of the day came from Simone Bolelli who stunned Ernests Gulbis in straight sets, 7-6, 7-6 to play Grigor Dimitrov in the second round. The two sets looked almost the same as both of them needed tie breaks to provide the winner. Bolelli broke his opponent once but also conceded a service, something which helped the Latvian to get one more chance.

Unfortunately, a late effort allowed Bolelli to clinch the first breaker at five and go one set from a big win. The second set saw both players break each other once more, something which led to a second tie break which the same Italian won at five.

Bolelli converted one out of four break points in the third set and saved one of the two points coming from the struggling Gulbis. He finished the game with ten aces, a 71 first serve percentage, two breaks and a 36 return percentage. Bolelli also won 73 percent of service points, compared to his opponent’s 64 one. Gulbis won 70 percent of first serve points, 27 of returning points and hit 19 aces and committed four double faults.

Matthias Bachinger has also made a two set progress after defeating Greg Jones 7-5, 6-4 to play Danai Udomchoke in the second round. A late break helped Bachinger to win the opener at five. As for the second set, it saw the same German convert one out of ten break points, a poor efficiency which helped him to build a two game lead, though.

Joes was given no chance to break in the last term, losing the game in nearly one hour and a half. Bachinger finished the game with a 81 first serve percentage, nine aces, a double fault and a 83 service percentage, while Jones had a 64 first serve percentage, hit the same number of aces and only converted 17 percent of return points.

Another big surprises has been provided by Danai Udomchoke who stunned sixth seed Fabio Fognini in three sets 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.The Thai broke the favorite once in the opener and managed to keep the sheet clean on his service throughout the entire first set.

Fognini recovered the deficit in the second term which he won at three thanks to a couple of break point conversions which propelled him to a third set decider. But the last term saw the same crowd favorite grab three more breaks to make an unexpected progress in front of one of the main favorites.

Santaigo Giraldo has made an easy progress at the Thai event when the Colombian defeated Dudi Sela 6-2, 6-3 to meet second seed Gael Monfils in the second round. Girardo won the first set after breaking his opponent twice in four tries. He also dominated the second term during which Sela conceded a couple of more services.

Giraldo won the game in over an hour but will have some hard times against second favorite Mofnils who has been favored by a BYE in the first round. Santiago finished the game with a 63 first serve percentage, seven aces, four out of seven break point conversions and a 50 return percentage.

On the other side, Sela had a 70 first serve percentage, two double faults and a break point conversion. He also won 50 percent of service points and just 29 of returning ones.

Grigor Dimitrov stunned fifth favorite and this year’s Zagreb winner Ivan Dodig 6-2, 6-5 in the first day. Dimitrov broke the Croat twice in the first term and a couple of more times in the last round when he also conceded one service. The Bulgarian, who has not won a title so far this season, came up with a 73 service percentage, four aces, a couple of double faults, a 44 return percentage and four break point conversions out of nine tries.

He also won 69 percent of first serve points, compared to his opponent’s 59 percentage, three aces, a double fault and a break. Dodig failed to shine as his showing included a 27 return percentage, a 56 service one and 50 points won.

Bangkok Prize Money and points:

Winner – $107,000 and 250 points ATP

Runner up – $56,300 and 150 points ATP

Semi finalist – $30,500 and 90 points ATP

Quarter finalist – $17,400 and 45 points ATP

R16 – $10,235 and 20 points ATP

R32 – $6,075 and zero points

Thank's for link: