Press Trust of India
Chennai, Jan 4: Qualifier Ante Pavic of Crotia displayed tremendous variations of pace and game plan to make it to the second round after he rallied from one set down to upset higher-ranked Spaniard Nicolas Almagro 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-1) in the ATP Chennai Open tennis tournament here Monday.
In an outside court action, John Millman of Australia, ranked 90, put paid to the aspirations of Russian Evgeny Donskoy (ranked 88) with superb exhibition of tennis and won 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) in 158 minutes.
In the opening singles match of the meet, 26-year-old Pavic, ranked 449, lost the first set after being broken in the sixth game. But, it was a different story in the next two sets as Pavic matched Almagro to the hilt in the second as he sent five booming aces and came up with a better first serve percentage to lead 6-5. He then broke Almagro in the 12th with two break points to level the set score.
The third set also went in the same fashion and the rivals shared 12 games and took the decider to tie- break. Pavic raised his game to the peak to lead 6-1 in the tie break and then wrapped up the match with an ace.
“This was not my biggest win on the tour but then Nicolas is a big name. I have spent the whole last week getting acclimatised to the conditions here. Also the qualifying round matches helped me play better today,” Pavic said after the match.
