Igor Kunitsyn, Tatsuma Ito through to the second round – US Men’s Clay Court Championship 2012
Igor Kunitsyn beats Xavier Malisse 6-4, 6-2
Russian, Igor Kunitsyn, scored an easy victory over world number 68, Xavier Malisse of Belgium, in the first round at the US Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston on Tuesday. The world number 91 surprised Malisse in straight
sets 6-4, 6-2 in just an hour and 12 minutes.
Kunitsyn and Malisse did not lose their serve in the first nine games of the opener, taking the score to 5-4 in favour of the Russian. Kunitsyn hit a blow in the 10th and grabbed it 6-4.
The 30-year-old banged in a single ace, claiming 13 of the 15 first and seven of the 10 second serve points in the first set. He did not provide any break chance to Malisse and utilised one of the two of his own.
Kunitsyn started off quite well in the second set, breaking the Belgian in the second game and holding his following serve to grab a 3-0 lead. Malisse tried to come back, as he snatched next two games to reduce the trail to 2-3
but dropped three in a row after that, losing it 2-6.
The Russian bombarded six aces and captured 11 of the 15 points on the first serves. He used his accurate second returns to claim 12 of the 18 on them in the second set.
Kunitsyn will play either Alex Bogomolov Jr. or Ryan Harrison in the second round.
Tatsuma Ito defeats Go Soeda 6-4, 7-5
World number 98, Tatsuma Ito of Japan, reached the round of 16, as he upset compatriot, Go Soeda, in straight sets 6-4, 7-5 in the opener. The match lasted for one hour and 51 minutes.
Ito and Soeda faced difficulties in holding their serve in the first set, as they lost it on a number of occasions. However, Ito managed to make three breakthroughs compared to just two by his opponent and grabbed it 6-4.
The 23-year-old, Ito, pounded three aces but also committed the same number of double faults. He had weak second serves, losing 15 of the 22 points on them. Nevertheless, the Japanese gave a tremendous return performance, as he
converted 11 of the 21 first and eight of the 13 second replies into points in the opener.
Both players broke each other two times in the first 10 games of the second set and equalised the score at 5-5. Ito clinched next two and sealed it 7-5.
The Japanese will meet fourth seed, Juan Monaco of Argentina, in the round of 16.
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