Mardy Fish has defeated Feliciano Lopez of Spain in the first round of the Western and Southern Open at Cincinnati. Fish, who has been given the 10th seed in the competition, has won the match in the straight sets by 6-2, 6-3. He took just 82 minutes to knock Lopez out of the competition. This was the eighth match between these two players and Fish defeated Lopez for the fifth time. Fish looked in very good nick and he hardly made any mistake in the match.
In the first four games of the first set, both the players held their service and the scores were levelled at 2-2. But, thereafter, the American player just took the set away from the Spaniard. Fish broke the service of Lopez in the 6th and the 8th game and won the last 4 games consecutively to win the first set by 6-2. Fish didn’t show any sign of complacency in the second set. He got a breakthrough in the fourth game of the second set and then held his service in the remaining games to win the second set by 6-3. Fish was very good on his service and he fired a total of 11 aces in the match.
In the post match interview, Fish said that he is very happy to start the tournament with such a dominating performance. He would like to continue his form in the further matches as well. On being asked about his opponent, Fish said that Lopez is a dangerous player and he has surprised him in the past. So, he was very careful against him. In the second round, Fish will play against Carlos Berlocq of Argentina. Berlocq cruised into the second round with an easy win against Santiago Giraldo of Columbia.