Mardy Fish trounces Kevin Anderson to reach round four – Sony Ericsson Open 2012
American number one, Kevin Anderson, eased past the South African tennis star, Kevin Anderson, in straight sets at the Sony Ericsson Open 2012 on Monday. He jolted down a 6-4, 6-3 victory over the 28th seed to book a spot in the round of 16 at this ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) hard court tournament held at Key Biscayne, Miami.
The eighth seed remained on course to bid for his ninth career title after stomping over the South African number one in an hour and 34-minute long marathon. The players previously fought each other at the US Open last season and after clinching this match, Fish improved to a 2-0 record in the FedEx ATP Head 2 Head series against Anderson.
Fish made a shaky start at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park and suffered the first blow in the second game, eventually falling 1-4 down. However, he re-focused at that point and stroke out the following five games in a row to pull out the opener by winning six games to four.
The American carried his winning form in the proceeding set and after getting the critical break early on, he leaped to a 3-1 lead. Fish then maintained his intensity and not only plucked remaining serves but capitalised on another break chance in the last game to clinch the set with a 6-3 score line.
Summing up the 30-year-old’s performance, Fish manipulated a poor first serve share of 46 per cent as compared to the South African’s 49 per cent but tremendously marked 18 out of 26 points on it. The American also took full advantage of the seven double faults Anderson coughed.
Next up for the American ace is 12th seeded Nicolas Almagro.
The American veteran commented about his next match-up, "Almagro has been playing great this year, even on hard courts. He'll be a tough player."
Almagro dumped his 20th seeded compatriot, Fernando Verdasco, in straight sets to reach this spot. The winning Spaniard required a single break of serve in each set to seal the deal with a 6-3, 6-4 victory.
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