Mardy Fish swims into the final; beats Ryan Harrison in semis – Farmers Classic 2011
Mardy Fish made it to his second consecutive final defeating his fellow countryman Ryan Harrison in breath taking 3 setters. The two American clashed at the LA Tennis Centre in Los Angeles on hard court for the second time in history
once again in a semi-final. The match was extraordinary as the young 19-year-old came up from a devastated beating in the first set to a tiebreak in the 3rd. Mardy won the semi-final 6-0, 4-6, 7-6(3).
Some sports analysts believed that Ryan wouldn’t stand a chance in front of the big Fish, however, the Fish almost got stuck in the net when his young compatriot fought back in the 2nd set. The 19-year-old redid it again
in the final set but could not hold on to his shots and lost in the tiebreaker.
The world No.9 played the first set with sheer perfection and took away the first set 6-0.
The match started off with Harrison serving first but was broken by the 29-year-old immediately. Fish took the lead in the following games breaking the young fellow countryman two more times. Fish served three aces and had a 91
percent 1st serve win ratio. He never broke down in the first set and neither did he give any chance to his opponent.
Harrison was devastated in the first set as he could manage only 6 points against 24 of the world No.9. However, the 19-year-old did not give up.
Serving first in the second set, Harrison rolled the scorecard to bag the first game 1-0. Following Harrison’s win, Fish levelled the scores in no time 1-1. The set steadily progressed to its 10 game when the young American struck
the Fish with lighting strikes to win a crucial breakpoint and the set.
Acing the world No.9 three times in the set, Harrison came up with a rock solid defence in the second set. Totalling 33 points in the second set, the 19-year-old levelled the set score 1-1 winning set 2 6-4.
Going into the decider set, the match boiled up as both players were once again on level terms. Harrison once again took the lead serving the first game of set 3. Fish levelled the score together with wining the next game with
a breakpoint to lead 2-1 in the set. Harrison levelled the scores, 3-3, once again in game 6 of the set winning a breakpoint of the 29-year-old’s serve.
Leading to a tiebreak the match was now a do or die for both the locals. However, there is always one winner. The experienced American ended the young 19-year-old’s streak as he won the tiebreaker 7-6(3) to win the match and qualify
into his 2nd consecutive final.
Nevertheless Harrison’s efforts were much appreciated by his countryman. Mardy Fish swims to another final to face the winner of the match between Ernests Gulbis and Alex Bogomolov Jr. in a 3 setter Farmers Classic 2011 final.
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