David Ferrer defeats Sergiy Stakhovsky in the third round of Mutua Madrid Open
World number six David Ferrer justified his top billing when he downed Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky in the third round of the Mutua Madrid Open tournament in Park Manzanares on Thursday. Sixth seed from Javea, Spain won a high quality third round 6-3, 7-6(3) to claim his berth in the quarterfinal for the third time in his career.
Ferrer and Stakhovsky were separated by 32 places on the world rankings but they put up a great fight and were evenly matched throughout the match. However, Stakhovsky began to show signs of fatigue at the start of the second set and allowed his Spaniard opponent to take full advantage. Ferrer stepped up his attacking capabilities at the start of the second set, seizing on his contender’s mistake and racing away to big leads. Ferrer stepped up his attacking capabilities at the start of the second set, seizing on his contender’s mistake and racing away to big leads.
Ferrer got through to the second set with majority of scores and Stakhovsky, well didn’t have such an easy road through. Ferrer stayed unbroken through this half of the match, and went on to convert one of two break points against Stakhovsky on return. He quickly stacked up a 4-1 lead in the first set, before Stakhovsky managed to push himself to three games. Stakhovsky wasn’t tight enough as Ferrer kept picking him up and winning rally after rally. The Ukrainian pro suffered considerable trouble due to his opponents’ brilliant shots, and eventually lost the first set 6-3.
However the Ukrainian Pro worked hard and roared back in the final set, hitting four aces and earning an assuring 67 percent win on his 64 percent first serves. The Spaniard on the other hand managed to win 78 percent on his first serves and 69 percent on his second serves respectively. The Ukrainian converted four of five breakpoints to his benefit and took the set to a tiebreaker. Ferrer, who was already punishing the young Ukrainian because of his loose shots, just got into his stride and managed to sneak it 7-3.
The crowd at Park Manzanares was dejected as they could see Stakhovsky was struggling from his tough matches over the past three days. Ferrer didn’t give Stakhovsky anything at all and completely dominated the match with his powerful two-handed backhands. With this win, Ferrer has extended his head-to-head record to 2-0 and will face world number two Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the quarterfinal of the tournament. Djokovic, who is undefeated to date, moved past Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain in the third round to book his berth at the quarterfinal for the fourth time in his career. Both players have never won the Madrid Masters title in their previous attempts but this time they both are in full form and anything could be accepted.
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