2011 ABN AMRO World Tennis: Mikhail Youzhny vs. Thiemo de Bakker – Preview
Russian ace and 2007 titlist here, Mikhail Youzhny, continues his 2011 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament campaign, as he plays his second round match against local Thiemo de Bakker.
The only remaining local in the event, Thiemo de Bakker, was the only Dutch to gain direct acceptance in the main draw. Ranked 50th in the world, de Bakker is playing his third tour level event for the season this week.
De Bakker started his run in the season opener, the 2011 Brisbane International. Un-seeded in the event, the Dutch failed to make it past the first round losing to Denis Istomin in straight sets.
A week later, de Bakker met with much more disappointment as he again faced a first round exit. Playing at the 2011 Heineken Open in Auckland, de Bakker was ousted from the event by Philipp Petzschner though the former did put up a fight taking two of three
sets into tiebreakers.
The Dutch’s Grand Slam run was also doomed from the start as he was drawn against the French marvel, Gael Monfils. Although the Dutch pushed the match to five sets he failed to dominate the Frenchman and was eventually ousted from the event.
Playing in his fourth year at Rotterdam here, de Bakker sports a career win loss mark of 1-3 here. Despite the local support, de Bakker has failed to make it past the first round. Having debuted here in 2007, de Bakker’s career best came in 2010 when he
made it past the first round edging past Jan Hajek only to have lost to Monfils in the next round.
Meeting Youzhny for the first time, the only factor that plays in the local’s favour is the home court advantage. However, this may not even come into play since Youzhny not only has the disparity in the rankings leaning on his side but he also enjoys a
better form than the local.
Playing in his first tour level event of the season, Youzhny’s official event of the season so far is the Grand Slam Down Under. Seeded tenth in the draw, Youzhny moved past Marsel Ilhan and Blaz Kavcic before falling to the hard hitting Canadian, Milos
Raonic.
The Russian also took part in the AAMI Classic. Seeded third in the event, Youzhny drew against eventual champion, Lleyton Hewitt, and was ousted from the main draw in the first match. However, due to rain the play-offs never happened, which left Youzhny’s
position in the event undetermined.
Seeded sixth in the event, Youzhny is putting in his seventh appearance at the event sporting an impressive 11-5 career win loss mark here. Making his debut here in 2002, Youzhny’s career best here came in 2007 when he made it all the way to the finals and
defeated Corat Ivan Ljubicic in straight sets to clinch a title win for himself.
The Russian enjoyed another final run at the event here last year though he retired halfway through the final match against Robin Soderling citing a thigh injury.
Prediction: Enjoying the higher ranking and perhaps a superior skill-set, the odds are certainly in the Russian’s favour. Although, given the home court advantage in de Bakker’s favour, might push the match to three sets.
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