2011 ABN AMRO World Tennis: Mikhail Youzhny defeats Thiemo de Bakker
2007 titlist here, Mikhail Youzhny dismissed local Thiemo de Bakker in the second round of the 2011 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament on Thursday to secure a spot in the final eight.
Playing each other for the first time, Youzhny dominated the local despite the latter’s home court advantage. Taking seventy four minutes, the Russian maintained his no set loss record as he dismissed de Bakker in straight sets. Youzhny had earlier registered
a 6-2, 7-6(6) win against Spaniard Marcel Granollers.
Serving in the opener, error prone Youzhny registered three double faults to de Bakker’s one. However, his impressive 71% winning percentage on first serve enabled him to clinch a 6-4 win.
Maintaining his form in the second set, the Russian saved one of one break opportunities and losing only three points on service repeated a 6-4 win.
The Russian struck a total of five aces and managed to convert three of four break opportunities. He raced to a 6-4, 6-4 victory losing a total of only 13 of 51 points on service.
Playing Youzhny in the next round is the top seeded defending champion, Robin Soderling.
Joining Youzhny in the quarter-finals is the top ranked Croat, Ivan Ljubicic. Coming from a quarterfinal run at the PBZ Zagreb Indoors last week, Ljubicic is in top form this week. Moving past Sergiy Stakhovsky in straight sets in their opening clash, Ljubicic
extended his no set loss record as he dismissed French qualifier, Benoit Paire suffering a loss of only four games.
Ten years Paire’s senior, Ljubicic cashed in on his experience as he won six straight games in the opener clinching a bagel set win. Holding the French to nine points, Ljubicic converted three of four break opportunities to secure a 6-0 win.
The second set saw some resistance from Paire as he struck an impressive 77% winning percentage on first serve. However, this wasn’t enough to crush the Croat. Successfully converting two of two break opportunities, Ljubicic was able to clinch a 6-4 win.
Taking a little over an hour, Ljubicic served five aces and lost a total of only 16 of 49 points on service. He converted 83% of total break opportunities to move on ahead in the event.
Seeded seventh in the event, Ljubicic makes it into his fifth quarterfinal here as he takes on Marcos Baghdatis. Playing in his ninth year here, Ljubicic has reached the finals twice, once in 2005 when he lost to Roger Federer and then in 2007 when he lost
to Mikhail Youzhny.
The Croat will hope third time’s a charm, as he looks for a title win this week.
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