Viktor Troicki of Serbia, the 25th seed in London, played his first round match of the 2016 Wimbledon Championship on Court 7 on Tuesday morning. His opponent was Frenchman Tristan Lamasine, the qualifier ranked 204 in the world. The match was very one-sided, especially in the last two sets and the difference in rankings, of almost 200 places, was visible. The Serb was just too strong for the 23-year-old Frenchman and he beat him 6-4, 6-2, 6-2. In the second round, Troicki will face Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas who beat Canadian Vasek Pospisil 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Troicki Wins the First Set Despite a Good Effort from Lamasine
The first four games were all won by the server, but while Lamasine struggled to hold his service games and was even forced to save a break point in the third game, the 30-year-old Troicki only dropped one point in his two service games. The pressure finally got to the Frenchman in the fifth game and he was broken by the Serb.
The 25th seed kept serving well and didn't give Lamasine much hope of breaking back. All the qualifier could do was putting in the effort to win his service games and hope Troicki would finally mess up on serve. However, the experienced Serb didn't comply and didn't even allow the Frenchman a sniff of a break point. Troicki took the first set 6-4 in only 32 minutes and looked to be in complete control of the match.
Troicki Sails in the Second Set
Troicki started the second set in the best possible way, breaking the French qualifier in the first game and consolidating the break by holding to love. Lamasine stopped the run of games against him and held in the next game to reduce the deficit to 2-1. Troicki kept coming to the net to finish points, especially in his service games and it paid off more often than not.
The Frenchman struggled to get his first serves in and couldn't win enough points behind his second serve, and the Serb went 4-1 up. In the sixth game, Troicki gifted Lamasine with two break point chances but he failed to convert one and the Serb managed to hold. At that point, the set was basically over and all Lamasine could do was forcing Troicki to serve out for the second, which he did. Troicki won the second set 6-2 in only 31 minutes.
Troicki Completes the Job in the Third Set
In the first game of the third set, Troicki got two break point opportunities at 15-40 but Lamasine, who hadn't yet given up, saved both by aggressive approaches to the net and he managed to hold. The 25th seed held his first service game as well and the scoreboard showed 1-1. The Frenchman held in the third game as well and put a bit of pressure on the Serb. At that point, Troicki was eager to finish the job and he switched gears to win the next five games and take the set 6-2 in 31 minutes, the exact time it took him to claim the second set. The Serb is into the second round with a 6-4 6-2 6-2 win in 94 minutes.
A Look at the Final Match Statistics
The Serb served a lot better in the match and that was the key factor in his straight-sets win. While the first-serves-in percents are similar, 67 for Troicki to 64 for Lamasine, the numbers behind the first and second serve are overwhelmingly in favor of the 25th seed; Troicki won 88 percent behind his first serve and 54 percent behind his second serve while his opponent was able to win only 60 percent of his first-serve points and 27 percent of his second-serve points.
The 30-year-old Serb was also impressive at the net, coming to the net 36 times and winning the point on 29 occasions (81 percent) while the Frenchman qualifier only managed to win 12 of 22 points at the net (55 percent). Finally, the Serb created 14 break-point opportunities for himself and converted five of them while the Frenchman only got two chances to break and failed to take either of them.