Jamie Baker survives a mid match slip against Michael Yani in 2nd round – Knoxville Challenger 2011
Unseeded Briton Jamie Baker shocked seventh seeded American Michael Yani in the second round of the Knoxville Challenger 2011.
The two challengers encountered each other on indoor hard courts of the University of Tennessee’s Goodfriend Tennis Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. After two hours and forty six minutes the unseeded Briton thrashed the seventh
seeded American by surviving a mid match lapse to score 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-6(4) on Thursday the 10th of November 2011.
Opting to serve first after winning the service toss was Baker and he was able to squander two successive games by capitalizing on an early in the second game to place himself on the scoreboard with a mini lead of 2-0. It was in
the third game that Yani made a return by breaking back and with a hold of serve in the fourth game, he managed to equalize the score at two games each.
In the following two games the players held their respective scores to tie the score at three games each at the end of the sixth game. From there onwards, as the two once more matched a blow for a blow and the score balanced out
at four games each at the end of the eighth game. However, Yani had double faulted on his second serve in the ninth game and endorsed a pivotal breakpoint. Nonetheless, Baker capitalized on the break and held his serve to clog the opening set with a 6-4 victory.
After taking a beating in the first set, Yani made a return as he pulled up his socks and geared for the second set. The toe-to-toe leg between the two carried well into the second set and both the players once more matched a blow
for a blow. Initially the two had traded in breaks and the score kept tied for the first eight games. However, both the players once more exchanged breaks during the eleventh and the twelfth game to push the set into a tiebreaker.
During the tiebreaker, both the players kept at each other and the score kept levelled at four points each. However, Yani took on his A-game and rushed past his adversary to clinch the tiebreaker at 7-4.
At the end of the second set both the players had bagged a set each and the decisive set was initiated by Baker. Once more the head-to-head run progressed between the two and neither player wanted the other to take the lead. As
they matched an eye for an eye, the set was eventually pushed into a tie breaker as the two traded in breaks in the last two games.
Amidst the tiebreaker, they once more matched an eye for an eye for the initial four points, however, Baker was on a roll as he breezed past his adversary to reach the finish line and clinch the tiebreaker at 7-4.
In doing so; Baker not only won the set but sealed his victory of the set and the match. He will now be facing top seeded American Michael Russell in the quarterfinal of the event.
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