Mardy Fish cruises past Tobias Kamke into the second round – US Open 2011
World number 7 and top American Mardy Fish made a good start to his US Open campaign as he outclassed world number 92 Tobias Kamke of Germany in straight sets 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 in the first round at the Flushing Meadows in New York
on Monday. The American needed just an hour and 43 minutes to beat Kamke.
Kamke drew the first blood as he broke the American in the opening game of the first set to take a 1-0 lead but he failed to consolidate on the break serve, dropping his serve in the next game to take the score to 1-1. Fish dominated
the set after that, breaking the German again in the fourth and eighth game and winning all of his service games to seal the set 6-2.
The American kept his first serve percentage at 55 percent, converting thirteen of the seventeen of them into points in the opening set. Fish played offensively, hitting ten winners in the first set. The six feet and two inches
tall made the real difference with his returns, claiming nineteen of the 34 first return points compared to just thirteen of the 33 by his opponent in the opening set.
Fish came roaring into the second set, breaking the German in the second game and winning his following service game to build a 3-0 lead. In a similar fashion to the first set, the American broke Kamke in the eighth game to capture
the set 6-2.
After taking two sets to love lead, the 29-year-old was almost flawless as he lost only one game, breaking Kamke twice to win the third set 6-1. The American smashed two aces and eight winners in the third set.
Fish was happy to play his first match on the Arthur Ashe stadium. The right-handed said, “It's an honour to be able to start the tournament off on that court. It's just an amazing court. I was surprised when they cancelled that
first match, so my match was right on at 1:00. Tennis players love knowing exactly when they play.”
The American added, “No one did anything yesterday, really. To be honest, it was pretty nice. I mean, you've never had an easier Sunday before a Slam. We just stayed in the room and did a little treatment. I went to the gym and
rode the bike. Nothing strenuous at all. It was great.”
Fish is drawn to meet world number 181 Malek Jaziri of Tunisia in the second round.
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