Mardy Fish downs Nicolas Mahut to reach the quarter-finals – Atlanta Tennis Championships 2011
Top seeded home favourite, Mardy Fish won his clash against the unseeded Frenchman, Nicolas Mahut, in the second round of Atlanta Tennis Championships, being played at Atlanta, the United States, on Thursday afternoon.
Rated at number nine in world rankings, Fish displayed his ballistic form to outclass the French in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3, to qualify for the quarter-finals of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 tournament.
The American exhibited the true class of a world number nine player to wrap up victory in one hour and twenty three minutes of play to oust Mahut from the event.
Fish faced no real challenge from his opponent throughout the contest and cruised to victory in the second set. His brilliant serve proved to be his most deadly weapon in the contest, while Mahut was worn out by his poor serve
game in the matchup.
The top seeded American was off to a steady start in the opener but gradually gathered up pace to get his hold upon in the game. He served with 72 per cent precision and reeled off 12 out of 13 first serve points in the opener.
None of the players registered a break point in the opening six games, taking the scores to 3-3. Finally, Fish nailed the first serve break of the day to lead 4-3 and then went on to strike another one in the very next game to seal the first set at 6-3 to
get one up in the contest.
The next set began with a trade of serve breaks from both contestants in the first two games but Fish again got the upper hand in the game by converting one more break opportunity in the fourth game to lead 4-1 in the set. Mahut
couldn’t recover from the damage done by the serve breaks from the American top seed and eventually submitted the second set at 3-6 to let Fish away with a comprehensive victory.
It was the third consecutive victory of Fish over the Frenchman, previously defeating Mahut at 2007 Australian Open in the round of 64. His Thursday’s victory made his overall head-to-head lead against Mahut to 3-0 and earned him
a place in the round of eight of Atlanta Tennis Championships.
Up next for Fish in the quarter-finals is the eighth seeded Indian, Somdev Devvarman, who stood victorious against Tatsuma Ito of Japan in the second round of the tournament.
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