Mardy Fish survives Ryan Harrison's resilience in opening round – Rakuten Open 2011
Fourth seed Mardy Fish of America battled past his qualifier compatriot in a three setter nail biter match at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2011, an outdoor hard court tournament held in Koto, Tokyo, Japan. He registered
a 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 success over the 19-year-old Harrison to secure a second round spot on Monday.
World number eight Fish laboured through the teenager, ranked seventy-two spots below him in the South African Airways ATP World Tour rankings, in two hours and forty-four minutes. Facing each other for the third time, Harrison
failed to avenge his loss at Los Angeles earlier this season while the seeded American extended lead in the head-to-head series by 3-0.
Fish, who is ten years older than his rival, made use of his tennis experience after pulling out a quick 6-4 win in the opening set. He made a disastrous start after losing his serve in the opening game but counter attacked in
the fourth game to tie the scores at 2-2. The higher ranked American rolled the balls expertly onto the lines to keep remaining serves and the broke Harrison’s serve again in the last game to triumph. He saved three out of four breakpoints came across and
converted two out of three breakpoint opportunities to his advantage.
The youngster carved his way back on the US$175,000 track after getting the first blood in the very first game. He maintained his composure to reel off remaining serves and broke Fish’s serve again in the last game to seal the
equaliser with a 6-3 score line. Harrison saved the only breakpoint faced and capitalised on two out of three breakpoint opportunities to his advantage.
The American number one, Fish carried his losing ways in the final stage as he lost an early serve to go 3-1 down. However, he snatched the break back in the very next game and then held remaining serves to keep his hopes high
for bidding a second title this season. The delighted American then broke again in the eleventh game to eventually pocket the decider by winning seven games to five. He warded off seven out of eight breakpoints faced and capitalised on two out of seven breakpoint
chances to his advantage.
Up next for Fish is the winner of the match between Latvian Ernests Gulbis and Pole Lukasz Kubot. The seed can easily tumble over any of these rivals if he plays in a similar way.
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