Tokyo, Oct 02: Second seed Sebastien Grosjean returned from a six-week layoff beat Ivo Karlovic of Croatia to reach the third round of the japan open tennis tournament here yesterday.
The Wimbledon semi-finalist from France, making his first appearance in Tokyo, scored the only break off the hard-serving Croat in the second game of the first set for a 6-3 7-6 (10/8) victory.
"It's always a lottery in the tie-break," said Grosjean, playing his first match since losing in the US Open first round in late August. "I tried to win all my serving points and I came back twice in the tie breaker. It was really difficult and he made a double fault on a set point. At the end I got a bit of luck."
Grosjean got off to a solid start, winning his first two service games to love, while Karlovic committed a double fault twice to give a double break point at 15-40 in the second game.
Karlovic, ranked 76th against Grosjean's 10th, charged to the net but hit his backhand volley into the net, which eventually cost him the first set as the remainder of the match went with serve.



Overall, Grosjean won five of his 11 service games to love and faced only two break points in the second game of the second set, while missing three break opportunities.


Bureau Report