Tipsarevic Still Unbeatable in Bangkok Open
Top seed Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia prolonged his run at the Bangkok Open series to 7-0 after he beat Sadio Doumbia of France 6-3 6-1 in the second round of the US$50,000 Bangkok Open Challenger 2 at Rama Gardens Hotel on Wednesday.
Climbing to No 118 this week after celebrating his win here on Sunday, the 32-year-old was briefly tested by the French opponent but once he found his momentum, he dictated play and never looked back to take the match in one hour and 28 minutes.
After a grueling start which saw both players held their serves for three all, Tipsarevic struck the first blood to break and gain the upper-hand at 4-3. Thanks to several errors from the Frenchman. The Serbian, with his superior baseline game, went on to dominate the next five games to lead 6-3 and 3-0.
Doumbia just held his serves once at 3-1 but from then on his game fell apart whereas the former world No 8 was solid in all department. The Bangkok Open Week 1 winner will next take on seventh seed Axel Michon of France who needed three sets to eliminate Kevin Krawietz of Germany 3-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-3.
Two German representatives reserved their spots in the last eight. One was 18-year-old Daniel Altmaier who reached his first quarter-final in a Challenger with a straight set 6-3 6-4 win over Germain Gigounon of Belgium.
“This is another tough round for me. I lost to him once. He is a good player. He has good strokes especially the backhand. I knew I had to play on my highest level,” said the qualifier who is playing in his second Challenger, losing the final qualifying in Bangkok Open I last week. He will face Japanese Shuichi Sekiguchi of Japan, the former Men’s Futures champion here who upset sixth Yannick Mertens of Belgium 6-3 3-6 6-1.
“I always have the chance against every player. I’m really looking forward to the match. I will give everything to win it,” said the 378 th ranked up-and-coming player.
The other German advancing was Yannick Maden who beat his compatriot Nils Langer 7-5 (7-5) 6-4. Li Zhe of China beat Alessandro Bega of Italy 6-2 6-2 while Jurgen Zopp of Estonia stopped the run of Indian qualifier N. Sriram Balaji of India 6-2 6-2.
The last quarter-final spot was seized by Chilean second seed Christian Garin who survived booming groundstrokes from left-handed Frederico Ferreira Silva of Portugal to win their duel 6-7 (7-9) 6-3 6-2.
In the doubles first round, second seed Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana beat Patcharapol Kawin and Werapath Serijatiyaporn 6-3 6-4.
