James Blake hikes into round 2; outguns Mikhail Kukushkin – Winston-Salem Open 2011
Sunday saw the start of the 1st round matches of the Winston-Salem Open 2011 here at the Wake Forest University hard court, Winston, USA. Although the two are known quite well for their play, Mikhail Kukushkin and James
Blake went head-to-head for the very first time in history at the Winston ATP Tour 250 event.
The two tennis professionals have been up playing on the hard court for their last 10 matches. Comparatively the two have almost the same characteristics; however, the American goes a bit strong in strength than the Kazakhstani.
Kukushkin, 23, is ranked at world No.61 and is placed as the best player of Kazakhstan. Seemingly an offensive player, the right hander mostly gets caught up in his own plays and loses crucial matches, though he mesmerizes with
his performance at times.
On the other hand, succeeding in his first round, Blake bagged an easy win over the Kazakhstani in less than 75 minutes. Although aged 31, the American still stands strong on the court. His power is certainly a main characteristic
of his play. Formerly ranked as world No.4, Blake had a tough 2nd set, however, managed to pull it off to win the match.
Starting off with the opener, Kukushkin slammed game 1 serving first followed by the American levelling it in the next, 1-1. The two broke each other in back-to-back game levelling up at 2-2, 3-3, and 4-4 and then on 5-5 before
the 31-year-old made his move. Returning on the 23-year-old’s serve, Blake broke Kukushkin in game 11 and won game 12 on his serve to take away the first set 7-5.
Blake secured 22 service points and 19 returners totalling 41 to his win in the first set.
The 2nd set started off with Kukushkin once again serving first and taking the lead. However, he could not win any breakpoints in the set but managed to give away 3. Blake, on the other hand, played a marvellous knock
to break the 23-year-old in game 3, 5 and 7 and winning the set 6-1.
Blake, statistically, had a stronger defence in set 2 as he won 79 percent of his first serve points in combination to a rock solid defence. The 31-year-old clear the 2nd set winning 20 service points and 10 returners
totalling 30 points.
Smashing away with the 1st round, the American now faces the 10th seed of the event, Robin Haase, in the next round.
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