Mathieu Rodrigues clinches victory against Mikhail Kukushkin in first round – Moselle Open 2011
Local qualifier, Mathieu Rodrigues, stunned the world number 56, Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan, in the opening round of the Moselle Open, being played in Metz, France, on Tuesday night.
The 25-year-old Frenchman battled for two hours and twenty one minutes before he finally bagged the three-setter at 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, to earn a place in the second round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour
250 tournament.
The contest was played on the hard courts of Arenes de Metz, with the local contestant living up to the expectations of his home crowd. Rodrigues played brilliant tennis all around to dispense out the 56th ranked Kazakh
competitor in the three set battle to advance further in the Moselle Open.
Despite of a par serve of just 51 per cent, Rodrigues reeled off 33 out of 48 first serve points, with Kukushkin clinching 30 points in the matchup. Both contestants exchanged a number of serve breaks in the competition but it
was Rodrigues who stood tall at the end of the contest. He converted five of his 14 break opportunities while the Kazakh opponent registered four out of 10 break points in the matchup to finish on the losing side in the end.
The opener was a magnificent show of French domination, with Rodrigues securing 14 out of 19 first serve points and breaking his opponent in the sixth game to lead 4-2. The French qualifier kept attacking Kukushkin and belted a
number of assertive winners down the line to crack in his second consecutive serve break of the day to wrap up the set number one at 6-3.
The competition got more intense in the following set as Kukushkin nailed two quick serve breaks to the French opponent race away to 4-1 early in the set. Rodrigues retaliated with a break point conversion in the sixth game to
reduce the deficit but the Kazakh competitor kept pressing him to commit errors. Kukushkin stung his second serve break of the day in the ninth game to close out the second set at 6-3, levelling the matchup with one set a piece.
Rodrigues took off the final set with a serve break and another trade of break points was seen in the sixth and the seventh game. Kukushkin failed to recover from the deficit and eventually lost the final set at 4-6 to let Rodrigues
into the second round of the Moselle Open. Rodrigues will take on the top seed fellow contestant, the world number 10, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, for a place in the quarter-finals of the tournament.
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