The grass court season kicked off on the ATP World Tour on Monday with a pair of first round matches at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart. Despite their only being two matches, there was still drama on the lawns of south-west Germany. As the tour switches from the slow red dirt to the slick green grass, it’s time to look back at day one of the Mercedes Cup.
Results
The first match of the day pitted serve-monster Sam Groth take on Ukrainian Illya Marchenko. The Australian, who holds the record for the fastest serve in history, put on a serving clinic, only losing four points in the entire match, riding his giant serve to a 7-5, 6-4 victory. There was little between the two in the opening set, with the few chances that came up going the way of the Aussie. Marchenko had no looks at breaking Groth’s serve, only winning two points on the Aussie’s serve. Groth would finally score a break late to seal the opening set.
The second set was more of the same. Once again, Groth only dropped two points on serve. Marchenko was actually stronger on his own serve, limiting the Aussie to only one break point. Unfortunately for the Ukrainian, Groth converted and once he managed a break, there was no way for Marchenko to get back in the match. The Aussie would ride that big serve into round two, pounding 15 aces in the process.
The other match pitted qualifier Michael Berrer against Malek Jaziri. After dropping a tight tiebreak in the opening set, it would be the qualifier who would take control, advancing to the second round with a 6-7(7), 6-2, 6-4 victory. The first set was tight, with both men grabbing a single break on very few opportunities. The set would require a tiebreak, which was as tight as the opening set, with the higher-ranked Jaziri winning an epic 9-7 to claim the opening set.
Berrer would take control from there, dominating on serve in the second set and scoring a pair of breaks. The German would only drop four points on serve, with Jaziri only really getting a foot into one return game, failing to convert two break points. A low first serve percent proved costly for the Tunisian, who only won a third of his second serve points. Despite getting his service numbers up, Jaziri still struggled on his return, only winning one more point against the Berrer serve and still failing to convert a pair of break points. The qualifier would score the lone break of the set, holding on to clinch the victory in just under two hours.
First round action continues tomorrow with a full slate of matches, including a handful of seeds and a blockbuster between a pair of former Wimbledon semifinalists.