By Richard Pagliaro | Monday, February 16, 2015

 

Alexandr Dolgopolov hit nine aces in a 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory over Teymuraz Gabashvili in his Delray Beach opener.

Photo credit: Christopher Levy (@tennis_shots)

Delray Beach, Fla.—Alexandr Dolgopolov dashed to his right, drilled a forehand pass down the line that left Teymuraz Gabashvili lunging for air and then skidded to a stop near the red Porsche parked in the corner of the court.

Dolgopolov's ability to downshift on the run helped him accelerate past the 73rd-ranked Russian, 7-6 (4), 6-3, into the Delray Beach second round.

It was the second win of the season for Dolgopolov, who was preoccupied doing some medical multi-tasking before the Australian Open last month.

Dolgopolov, who underwent surgery on July 24th to repair the meniscus in his right knee, finished the 2014 season with a 1-5 record over his final five tournaments.

Last month, pain in his surgically-repaired right knee left the 26-year-old Ukrainian rushing from doctor to doctor to get second, third and fourth opinions on the state of his knee.

"I went to nine doctors in three days [before the Australian Open]," Dolgopolov told the media moments after stepping off the stadium court in Delray Beach. "I sent the MRI to doctors in Europe and the Ukraine."

Differing diagnoses left Dolgopolov feeling uncertain about the risk he was taking playing Melbourne.

Ultimately, the 2011 Australian Open quarterfinalist decided to give it a go, but the lack of preparation proved costly.

The No. 21 seed managed just nine games in an opening-round exit to Paolo Lorenzi, who had never won an Australian Open main-draw match before and had just one Grand Slam singles victory to his credit.

Today, Dolgopolov looked fit, played fast, covered the court quickly and showed no signs of the knee nagging him.

"Physically, I feel fine," he said. "This was more of a mental game because the wind was a factor."

A swirling breeze that seemed to grow more unpredictable as the match progressed created tricky conditions, making the simple act of timing the service toss a challenge.

"Week by week that's tennis life: Different balls, different surfaces, different conditions," Dolgopolov said.

Gabashvili served 41 percent and Dolgopolov served 42 percent, but the Ukranian's lower ball toss was a little bit easer to tame. Things went from unruly to ugly for the 73rd-ranked Russian who netted a double fault to face break point then spun a second serve into the top of the tape to drop serve and fall into a 2-4 second-set deficit.

Dolgopolov plastered an ace down the middle — his ninth of the match — to wrap up a 93-minute victory.

Dolgopolov will face either Tim Smyczek or wild card Stefan Kozlov for a quarterfinal spot.

This is the first time in tournament history four teenagers have made the Delray Beach main draw.

The road doesn't exactly get easier for Dolgopolov, who will lose the 300 points he made for reaching the Rio final last year and faces the pressure of defending semifinal points at Indian Wells and the Miami quarterfinals.

"It's not the way I want it to be confidence-wise," Dolgopolov said. "I lost in the first round of my last two tournaments, which doesn't help. I have one thousand points to defend."