Feb 13 (Reuters) – South Africa’s Kevin Anderson rallied
from a set down to edge out Bulgarian prospect Grigor Dimitrov
2-6 7-6 7-6 in a compelling first round encounter at the San
Jose Open in California on Monday.
The sixth-seeded Anderson was no match for his 20-year-old
opponent in a one-sided first set in which he was broken twice,
but the South African used his big serve to good effect to grind
out victory in a little under two-and-a-half hours.
Both players held serve for the reminder of the match but
Dimitrov blinked first in the second set tiebreaker when he
committed a costly double fault to fall 4-2 behind before
Anderson tied the contest with one of his 15 aces.
Anderson, who staved off three break points at the start of
the third set, finally took control of the contest in the
deciding tiebreaker and closed out the contest on his second
match point.
In the day’s only other singles match, Germany’s Tobias
Kamke defeated South African Izak Van der Merwe 6-3 6-3. French
world number 13 Gael Monfils is the top seed.
(Writing by Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles; Editing by John
O’Brien; To comment on this story email
sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)
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