Birthday boy, Juan Monaco, fries Mardy Fish to get through to the semis – Sony Ericsson Open 2012
World number 21, Juan Monaco of Argentina, celebrated his birthday in the best possible manner, as he stunned the eighth seed, Mardy Fish of USA, in straight sets in the quarter-final at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami on Thursday.
The Argentinean dropped just four games in the entre contest, winning it 6-1, 6-3 in just an hour and 22 minutes.
Monaco stepped into the court from the first point, snatching opening three games of the match to build a 3-0 lead. The Argentinean allowed Fish to win only one game, serving it out at 5-1.
Seeded 21st at the event, Monaco was almost flawless on his first deliveries, amazingly putting in 96 percent of them. The Argentinean lost just four points in his as many serve games and did not provide any break opportunity to his opponent. The right-hander put icing on the cake by winning six of the 10 second return points.
Just like the first set, Monaco came out on fire in the second, claiming a breakthrough in the very first game and consolidating on it to move on 2-0. Fish showed some energy and hit back in the sixth game to equalise the score at 3-3. However, it blew out after that, as Monaco bagged three games in a row to capture it 6-3.
The Argentinean’s serve performance made a little decline in the second set, hitting 70 percent of the first deliveries and converting 11 of the 16 of them into points. Though, it was still far better than Fish’s, who delivered just 44 percent of the first serves and won eight of the 20 points on them.
A jubilant Monaco said, after the match, “I meant every shot that I played, I did. It was a perfect match for me. It was unbelievable. That was the way to celebrate my birthday, playing like this. I feel proud and very happy.”
On the other hand, a disappointed Fish accepted, "He did a lot of things well today. I think more than anything else, he shrunk the court extremely well with his movement, and that's why I think you saw a ton of errors from me."
The American added, “I was pressing a lot just because he wasn’t giving me anything. He wasn’t giving me any errors. He made one error in the first set and served 98 per cent. That’s tough to beat.”
Monaco will lock horns with the top seed and defending champion, Novak Djokovic, in the semi-finals.
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