Brian Baker breezes past Denis Matsukevich in 1st round – Knoxville Challenger 2011
American qualifier Brian Baker got the best of Russian Denis Matsukevich in the first round of the Knoxville Challenger 2011.
On the 9th of November 2011, the two rivals had battled out on indoor hard courts of the University of Tennessee’s Goodfriend Tennis Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA and it took Baker only sixty seven minutes to do away with Russian Matsukevich in straight sets of 6-2, 6-2.
Baker was a better player out of the two and he powered through both the sets. On the whole, the American had accomplished a 78 percent of his first service points won which assisted him in attaining a walloping 70 percent of his total service points in the match.
Moreover, he also had accomplished a grand 88 percent of his second return points which alleviated his total return points to score an above average return of 55 percent.
Matsukevich had won the service toss and had opted to serve first for the opening round. He was able to battle past the deuce in the first game to hold his serve and initiate the scoreboard at 1-0. Following at his heels was Baker, who too held his service game and placed himself on the scoreboard at 1-1 beside his opponent.
In the following two games, each player had bagged a game each on their respective serves. At the end of the fourth game the score had tied at two games each.
However, in the fifth game Matsukevich had double faulted on his second serve and endorsed a game to his adversary, who held his serve in the following game and took a mini lead of 4-2 at the end of the sixth game.
During the seventh game Matsukevich’s forehand went wayward and he gifted away a crucial break to his adversary, who was now only a game away from victory. As Baker smashed a marvellous backhand winner, he bagged the opening set with a 6-2 victory to go one up in the match.
Once again Matsukevich commenced the second set but this time he got off to a poor start as he was unable to hold his service game. Nevertheless, he was quick to break back and as both the players had traded in breaks the score had shifted to 1-1. In the following two games the players bagged a game each on their respective serves and by the end of the fourth game each player had bagged two games.
It was during the fifth game that Matsukevich’s forehand had gone haywire and he erred. Baker capitalized on the break and then immediately held his serve in the following game to take a lead of 4-2 at the end of the sixth game. As Matsukevich double faulted, it seemed history was repeating itself. Mean while, Baker had sealed his victory of the set and the match by clogging the second set with another 6-2 victory.
Next up for the American is Fourth seeded South African Izak Van Der Merwe in the second round of the event.
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