Juan Martin Del Potro defeats Mikhail Youzhny in the first round of Madrid Masters
Thirty second ranked Argentine pro, Juan Martin Del Potro beat all odds to overcome the thirteenth seeded Russian, Mikhail Youzhny in the first round of the 2011 Mutua Madrid Open, being played at Park Manzanares in Madrid, Spain
on Tuesday. The 22-year-old Argentine took down the Russian after an intriguing three-set matchup, 6-1, 3-6, 6-3, in two hours and seven minutes to clinch the first round match.
The 2009 US Open Champion was forced to put his tennis career on hold for eight months due to his wrist injury that hampered many of his future campaigns. The Argentine pro had a splashing start to the year, winning titles at the
Delray Beach and Estoril Open. Recently crowned at the clay-court tournament, Del Potro has improved his year-to-date win loss mark to 25-6.
The Argentine used his powerful serve and forehand to oust the Russian in three enthralling sets. However, there was a second set scare for world number thirty two in his second match of the tournament. Although he dropped the
second set, Del Potro reversed the scores in the final set to clinch a three set victory for himself.
A fine performance from Del Potro and continuous resistance from the Russian made this a worthwhile match for the crowd. Del Potro sealed the victory with his beautiful swinging serves and, as usual, his rigidness which proved
too much for his Russian opponent on clay. Though it was a respectable effort from his opponent too who managed to beat Argentine in the second set with a confident hold of serve.
The match started with Argentine taking some of his frustration out with a crunching serve that put Youzhny on his backside. Completely devastating Youzhny with his powerful game, Del Potro fired in four aces in the first set.
He scored 17 of 23 serve points and saved 2 break points in the opener en route to victory. The Argentine concluded the first set in an aggressive manner at 6-1.
Del Potro faced a test of nerve in the second set as his Russian opponent displayed some of his fine plays. Youzhny brilliantly raised his first serve percentage to 21 percent and won 72 percent of points on them. A final shot
from Youzhny was all just needed that left Del Potro stranded behind the baseline. In the end it was 6-3 to Youzhny, much to everyone’s amazement.
Though Del Potro fell behind in the second set he bounced back with his powerful ground strokes and defensive shots to overcome Youzhny in the final set. The Argentine scored 20 percent points more than Youzhny in total to emerge
victorious with a 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 score line.
The Argentine will clash Marin Cilic of Croatia for a place in the third round of the tournament. Players have already met three times at different occasions with Del Potro leading their head-to-head record by 2-1.
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