Albert Ramos moves into 2nd round as Mikhail Kukushkin retires – Malaysian Open 2011
Albert Ramos-Vinolas went off bagging his 1st win of the Malaysian Open 2011 today, Tuesday, 27th September, as his counterpart, Mikhail Kukushkin, world No.56, ended the game retiring from what seemed to be a probable wrist injury. Playing at the Putra Stadium, Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, the two fought out for more than two hours before the Spaniard took off with the retirement win, 4-6, 6-3, 4-2.
Kicking off with the first set, Ramos served first and clamped the first game, 1-0. Following the Spaniard, Kukushkin levelled up the scores winning game 2 and stood to return again. Levelling up again at 2-2, with a game win for the two, world No.58, Kazakh, broke the world No.80 and served out game 6 to lead the set 4-2.
Ramos served back and cut the lead to 3-4, however, the Spaniard was unable to break back and level the scores again in the set. Serving out game 8, Kukushkin went closer to a set win. With a game win each next, the Kazakh bagged the set winning 6-4 and led the match 1-0.
Moving on to the second set, Ramos struck back like a bolt from the blue. Rolling down the scoreboard first, Ramos took the lead and switched the serve. Levelling up the scores at 1-1 and then at 2-2, Kukushkin broke the 23-year-old and served game 6.
Unable to take advantage from the breakpoint, Kukushkin fell short and lost a breakpoint and handing over the lead into the Spaniards hands. Serving out game 7, Ramos broke-n-served extending his lead and mustered to his set win, 6-3, and levelled up the match scores, 1-1.
With the final set lighting up, Kukushkin served the first game, however, fell short and lost as the Spaniard blistered a breakpoint, 0-1. Extending his lead further on, Ramos bagged another game to lead 2-0. Scoring his first game, the Kazakh rolled down his side of the scorecard in the set winning game 3, 1-2.
Ramos, on the other hand, kept his foot on the accelerator, as he smashed blazing forehands all over the court to retain his lead. Winning game 4, the scores scorched up to 3-1. The higher ranked Kazakh could not break back rather had to save breakpoints to cut down the lead.
Winning a game each next, 4-2, the fixture ended up with somewhat unexpected. Kukushkin retired and walked off from the court. Struggling from an injured wrist, the world No.56 gave away an easy win to the Spaniard, however, if he had continued, he still would have lost.
Nevertheless, Ramos cleared up his first round match and made it into the second round of the Malaysian Open 2011 where he will play top seeded compatriot Nicolas Almagro.
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