Article

  • Sydney - Mario Ancic off to a good start

    1/12/09 3:43 PM | Cheryl Murray
    Sydney - Mario Ancic off to a good start Big-serving Croat Mario Ancic drew tough qualifier Xavier Malisse for his first round opponent in Sydney on Monday.

    After making his way through qualifying, the Belgian powerhouse Xavier Malisse ran into Mario Ancic in the first round. Both Malisse and Ancic have had their fair share of professional woes; Malisse’s mental, Ancic’s mainly physical. Both men will be looking to make a fresh start in 2009.

    Malisse played an excellent first set. The Belgian played solid tennis, especially on break points. He saved four of the five Ancic had against him, and broke twice to take a set lead on the Croat. Helping Malisse along the way was the fact that Ancic did not have any aces in the first set. Ancic has always lived and died by the success of his first serve; when it is not clicking, Ancic has a difficult time winning.

    The second set was another close affair. Ancic kicked in five aces, Malisse (who is also known for his power game) three. The two men traded a single break of serve to force a tiebreak. Ancic just edged out Malisse in the breaker 7-5 to level the match at a set all.

    Though Malisse had played one of his best matches in quite a long time, the loss of the second set seemed to deflate him. The Belgian could get nothing going on his return game. He only won three points on Ancic’s serve for the set, a fact which allowed Ancic to play unfettered tennis. Ancic went all out on Malisse’s serve, a tactic which facilitated two breaks, and a relatively easy 6-3 scoreline to close out the match.

Tell a friend »

Comments


Write comment

You have to be logged in to comment. If you do not have an account, click here to register. It only takes a minute and you'll be redirected back to this page.
Username:

Password: