Kevin Anderson rallies to advance in San Jose tennis
Date published :
14 Feb 2012 - 08:46:54
South African fifth seed Kevin Anderson rallied to defeat Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov 2-6, 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/3) in a first-round match at the $531,000 ATP San Jose Open.
Anderson hit his 14th and 15th aces of the match to push the third set into a tie-breaker, then won five of the final six points in the tie-breaker to claim the victory after two hours and 27 minutes on Monday.
Dimitrov, ranked 82nd, won his only prior ATP meeting with 35th-ranked Anderson last year on grass at Eastbourne and saved the only break-point the South African managed against him in this match, that coming in the first set.
Anderson advanced to a second-round matchup against either Israeli Dudi Sela or Australian Matthew Ebden.
Germany's Tobias Kamke ousted 129th-ranked South African Izak Van Der Merwe 6-3, 6-3 in Monday's only other first-round match.
Kamke, ranked 89th, advanced to a second-round match against defending champion and third seed Milos Raonic of Canada.
Raonic had a first-round bye, as did top seed Gael Monfils of France, US second seed and three-time San Jose champion Andy Roddick and Czech fourth seed Radek Stepanek, who won the 2009 San Jose crown.
