Mario Ancic almost Galvanised

Second seed overcomes fightback from his Italian rival to enter quarterfinals

MUMBAI: Well begun is half the job done. Second seed Mario Ancic began well, breaking Stefano Galvani in the second game, then again in the sixth, to pocket the opening set in just 27 minutes. The writing, it seemed, was clear on the wall for the unseeded Italian, ranked 108th in the world. One half of the job was over.

But the baby-faced Croat hadn’t envisioned the kind of fightback awaiting him in the other half. He got the desired break in the third game of the second set, then smashed two double-faults in the sixth to gift back the advantage to Galvani. Thereafter, it was anybody’s game.

The Italian, having lost to the world number 11 at the Beijing Open a week back, was as if keen on avenging the second round defeat. While he raised his game by a few notches, Ancic’s began to disintegrate.

Unforced errors aside, even his normally reliable serve began to desert him. Still he hung along gamely — aided by a vociferously cheering crowd — to take the set to tie-breaks. Two aces pulled him back when he was trailing 3-5, and a frustrated scream from Galvani after a wide backhand finally signalled an end to the nearly two-hour proceedings.

Don’t go by the 6-1 7-6 (6) scoreline, it doesn’t portray the 29-year-old Italian’s amazing fightback, nor the struggle of the 22-year-old Croat, who got into the quarterfinals of the ongoing Kingfisher Airlines Tennis Open after Thursday’s second round win.

“I was feeling a bit tired. Galvani was returning well and my serve was not going well.

He played really well in the second set. All thanks to the crowd, they were with me throughout. It was quite humid today, so it was a bit tough,” Ancic said.

Ancic’s win was preceded by another marathon, a 149-minute clash between fourth seed Dmitry Tursunov of Russia and Denmark’s Kristian Pless. The feisty Russian, easily the most sought-after player here, got the break in the third game but surrendered the eighth to give back the initiative. But his serve came to his aid when he needed it most, and the ensuing tie-break to win the first set 7-6(4).

Pless lost his serve again in the fourth game of the second set, and thereafter it was Tursunov all the way as he pocketed the set 6-3 to make it to the last eight stage.

In the final match of the day, Tommy Robredo of Spain beat Michael Berrer Germany 5-7 6-2 6-4 in one hour 52 minutes.