Edouard Roger-Vasselin, Kei Nishikori qualify for the main round – Western & Southern Open 2011
Edouard Roger-Vasselin beats Steve Johnson 6-2, 6-1
World number 113 Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France thrashed American wild card entrant Steve Johnson, ranked 587th in the world, in straight sets 6-2, 6-1 in the final round of the qualifying draw at the Western and Southern
Open in Cincinnati on Sunday. The French took just 56 minutes to win the match.
Roger-Vasselin drew the first blood as hr broke the American in the first game of the opening set and consolidated on it to take a 2-0 lead. Johnson broke back in the fourth game to level the score at 2-2 but he was broken again
in the very next game to trail 2-3. Roger-Vasselin claimed another break of serve in the seventh game, clinching the set 6-2.
In a similar fashion to the opening set, the French broke Johnson in the opening game of the second set and held his serve in the next game to take a 2-0 lead. Roger-Vasselin did not allow the American to break back and broke him
two more times to win the set 6-1.
The French will face Serbian Janko Tipsarevic, ranked 20th in the world, in the first round of the main draw.
Kei Nishikori defeats Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3, 6-4
Japanese Kei Nishikori, ranked 52nd in the world, dismissed world number 62 Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 to qualify for the main draw in Cincinnati. The match lasted for an hour and 21 minutes.
Nishikori and the Kazakh won their serve in the first seven games to take the score to 4-3 in favour of the Japanese. The 21-year-old broke Kukushkin in the eighth game and consolidated on it to clinch the set 6-3. The Japanese
smacked three aces and sealed fourteen of the nineteen points on the first serve in the opening set. Nishikori converted nine of the fourteen second serves and the only break point he received in the first set.
The Japanese came roaring into the second set, breaking Kukushkin in the first and third game and holding his serve to grab a 4-0 lead. The Kazakh bounced back as he claimed four of the next five games, breaking Nishikori in the
eighth game to take the score to 5-4. The Japanese, however, succeeded in serving out the set at 5-4. The Florida, USA resident captured twelve of the seventeen first service points and nine of the seventeen second service points in the second set.
Nishikori will take on world number 66 David Nalbandian in the opening round of the main draw.
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