Marcel Granollers ousts Xavier Malisse in opening round – US Open 2011
Kicking off on Monday, 29th August, were the 1st round matches of the US Open 2011. The Grand Slam comprised of all the top players in the world, men and women, battling it out for the pole position at the
USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. A total of 16 hard courts have been prepared for this prestigious event with matches starting off from noon to midnight.
Playing their first head-to-head match ever, Marcel Granollers, Spaniard, collided against the Belgian world No.50, Xavier Malisse, for their 1st round match. Starting off an hour after noon, Granollers, aged 25, deteriorated
his challenger in straight sets winning in just over 2 hours 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 and into the second round.
Granollers, Ranked world No.32, has been amazing lately. Enjoying his best career records in this season, the Spaniard worked up his way to world No.32 winning the Suisse Open at Gstaad and making his way upto the quarter-finals
of Bet-at-home Austrian Open. Considering his current form, the 25-year-old was predicted to win the match and so he did.
On the opposite, stood the Belgian world no.50, Xavier Malisse, to play the Spaniard. Aged 31, the former world No.23 has lost 7 out of his last 10 fixtures that surely shows that his comparison in the first round match of the
US Open was one sided.
Starting off with the match, Malisse opened up serving first and took out game 1. Following the Belgian, Granollers won his first game of the match to level the scores at 1-1. The world No.32 then broke the 31-year-old in game
3 and extended his lead further onto 3-1 winning game 4 on his serve.
Malisse, however, did cut down the lead and eventually levelled up in game 8 at 4-4 breaking the Spaniard. Nevertheless, the Spaniard struck back in game 9 breaking the Belgian and took out game 10 to win the set 6-4.
Moving on with set 2, Malisse once again serve first to open the set, however, was broken by the Spaniard in no time. Granollers bulldozed the next Belgian in the next three games as well forming a strong 4 games lead. Malisse
did break back in the mid game, however, could not cut back the lead and lost again with the same score, 6-4.
Malisse tried his luck for the third time as he served first for the opener. Taking out game 1 the 31-year-old’s lead was levelled up as Granollers won game 2. The two broke each other one after the other in game 3 and 4 to level
up on 2-2.
The scores then led up to 3-3 and then on 4-4 before Malisse once again blundered and dropped short. Breaking the Belgian the 25-year-old took the lead and finished off the set with the 10th game win 6-4.
Clearing up with the first round of the US Open, the Spaniard now sits to play against the Kazakhstani, Mikhail Kukushkin, for a seat in the 3rd round of the Grand Slam Event.
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