2011 Open 13: Mikhail Youzhny and Robin Soderling secure final eight berths
Top Russian, Mikhail Youzhny moved into his fourth straight quarterfinal at the Open 13 in Marseille on Thursday, when he defeated local Gilles Simon in a grueling three setter.
Playing in his second tour level event, Youzhny not only moves into the fourth straight quarterfinal at Marseille but he also moves into his second straight quarterfinal on tour having enjoyed a quarterfinal run at Rotterdam last week.
Seeded third in the event, Youzhny already led the head to head 6-0 giving him the psychological c*m statistical edge to counter the home court advantage in Simon’s favour. Bouncing back from being one set down, Youzhny extending his lead to maintain his
winning streak against the Frenchman.
Serving in the opener, Simon struck four aces to Youzhny’s one. Holding the Russian to ten points, Simon converted two of two break opportunities as he rushed to a 6-3 win and a 1-0 lead in the set score.
Bouncing back in the second set, Youzhny reversed the score as he recorded a 64% winning percentage on his serve and a successful conversion of 2 of 3 break opportunities.
With one set win each, the match entered the decider. Maintaining his form, Youzhny was able to repeat the score as he won the decider 6-3 and in effect the match.
Taking a little less than two hours, Youzhny survived Simon’s resounding total of twelve aces. Losing only 24 of 68 points on service, Youzhny successfully converted five of eleven break opportunities as he secured a spot for himself in the final eight.
Youzhny next plays 2009 champion, the sixth seeded local, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Joining Youzhny in the next round is the top seeded Swede, Robin Soderling. Also moving into his third straight quarterfinal of the tour, Soderling currently stands from two to two having won titles at the season opener in Brisbane and then last week at
Rotterdam.
In a hard fought battle with local wildcard entrant, Nicolas Mahut, Soderling was able to clinch a straight, though not so simple and definitely close, sets win.
Although Soderling led the head to head 1-0, he needed more than that to counter Mahut’s crowd support advantage. Backed by the crowd, Mahut engaged the Swede in a neck to neck run keeping the score tied at all points and eventually pushing the set into
a tiebreaker. Even in the tiebreaker the French was relentless as he followed the Swede closely at his heels. It was not till the seventeenth point that the hard hitting Swede caught a break and clinched a 10-8 win to go one up in the set score.
Trailing the set score 0-1, Mahut was determined to give the Swede a run. Engaging the Swede in another tooth and nail battle, Mahut pushed the set into another tiebreaker though this time around, Soderling was quick to end it as he secured a 7-5 win for
himself.
In a match that lasted almost two hours, Soderling struck a notable twelve aces and lost only 22 of 80 points on service as he moved on ahead in the event. Soderling now faces defending champion, Michael Llodra in the quarterfinal.
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