Ivan Ljubicic vs Mikhail Youzhny – Quarter-final Preview: China Open 2011
The China Open enters its quarter-final stages, with eight of the top class contestants straining hard to earn a berth in the round of four. Former world number three, Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia, will compete against world number
37, Mikhail Youzhny of Russia in the quarter-final clash on Friday afternoon.
The much anticipated contest will be played on the outdoor hard courts of the Olympic Green Tennis Center, in Beijing, China, with the winner of the match getting a berth in the semi-final round of the ATP (Association of Tennis
Professionals) World Tour 500 event.
Currently rated at number 26 in the ATP World Rankings, Ljubicic has been one of the Croatia’s finest players. The 32-year-old veteran is toiling hard to get back his vintage form and is running a 21-16 winning record in the running
season. Winner of 10 ATP championships titles, Ljubicic is having a dry season so far and is looking in a good form to end his drought in Beijing by winning the China Open.
The unseeded Croat began his China Open campaign by taking down the lucky loser from Russia, Teymuraz Gabashvili, in straight sets 7-5, 7-5, in the opening round to face the unseeded German, Florian Mayer in the next. The German
was coming out of a championship victory from Bucharest, Romania, but Ljubicic was too experienced for the Mayer to tackle. He Croatian stood victorious in three sets, 6-0, 2-6, 6-3, to book a meeting with Youzhny in the quarter-finals of the tournament.
Unseeded in the tournament, Youzhny has displayed his tremendous form this week, defeating two of the better ranked players in the initial rounds of the China Open. The Russian stunned everyone when he simply demolished the world
number 11, Nicolas Almagro of Spain, 6-3, 6-2, in the opening round matchup. He then went on to drown the other Spaniard, the world number 28, Feliciano Lopez, in a tough three-setter, 6-7(5), 6-2, 7-5, in the second round clash to earn a berth in the quarter-finals.
37th ranked Youzhny is also battling hard to make his way back in the top-10 but his current ATP season has not been impressive. The Russian registered 24 victories, while suffered defeats on 19 occasions this year so
far. Winner of seven ATP championships, Youzhny is also having a quite season and is desperately struggling to get his hands on a title this year.
Ljubicic has an excellent winning record against Youzhny in singles encounters and leads the all-time head-to-head series by 7-1 against the Russian. The two men had their last meeting on the same venue in the previous edition
of the China Open and Ljubicic wrapped up victory in straight sets 6-3, 7-6(3), in the opening round.
The Croatian veteran has four victories against Youzhny on hard courts and it is highly expected that this number will be extended to five after Friday’s matchup. The way Youzhny played his opening two matches in the tournament,
it is also expected by many that the Russian will inflict a heavy defeat to Ljubicic in the quarter-final.
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