Mardy Fish reaches the quarter-final by dumping Radek Stepanek – Western & Southern Open 2012
Tenth seed, Mardy Fish, rallies past the Czech, Radek Stepanek, in the third round of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati by in straight sets of 6-3, 6-3. Fish qualified for the quarter-final within one hour and 34
minutes.
Fish said in an interview, “That was the monkey jumping off my back. He is been a very tough opponent for me over the years. Not only has he beaten me, he is beaten me pretty soundly most of the time. I certainly felt good.
I feel fresh and strong. This summer has gone well for me as far as getting my match fitness back. I have had a lot of great wins on that court here and played a lot of great matches.”
Fish took a gleaming start by clenching the opening game but the scores immediately even out to 1-1. However, for the most part of the initial set the Czech gave his contender a tough competition, equalizing the scores twice.
Fish broke Stepanek’s serve in the second last game, nudging his 6-3 to claim on the set. In the first set Fish shelled his competitor with three aces and double faulted once. He had an average first set percentage of 52 and consolidated 12 of 15 first serve
point and 9 of 14 second deliveries. The 33-year-old had a good first percentage of 65, losing 10 of 17 first serve and six of nine deliver replies in the opening.
Currently, ranked 37th in the ATP World Tour rankings, the Czech started the set with his serve but seemed helpless on Fish’s deliveries. He levelled the game in the initial half of the second set
to 2-2. The American then made a breakthrough and maintained his lead for the following games and nailed a 6-3 win. The American pounced four aces in the second set with no double faults. He struggled to grab 11 of 15 first serve point and six of nine second
deliveries and resultantly wrapping his win. However, Stepanek merely clamped one ace, and double faulted three times in the second set. He had a 57 percent first serve, losing 13 of 21 first and seven of 16 reply points.
The former world number seven is drawn against the reigning world number one, Roger Federer next.
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