Michael Llodra upsets Mikhail Youzhny in the opening round – Rogers Cup 2011
The crowd at the Uniprix Stadium in Montreal, Canada, was in for a surprise result, as the world number 14, Mikhail Youzhny of Russia crashed out of the opening round of Rogers Cup at the hands of the unseeded Frenchman, Michael Llodra, on Tuesday afternoon.
Rated at number 31 in world rankings, Llodra played far better than his rankings suggest in the matchup. The French wrapped up victory in three sets, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4), after a nail biting finish to the game to make it into the second round of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Masters Series tournament. 11th seed Youzhny hung in the game for two hours and eight minutes before he finally dropped the matchup to end his voyage at Rogers Cup.
Llodra registered his 14th victory of the running year and stunned every one by dispensing out the 11th seed Russian in the very first round of the tournament. He cracked in 10 thudding aces and secured 45 out of 60 first serve points in the matchup to come out as the winner. Five costly double faults from the Russian opponent on the crucial moments of the game greatly assisted Llodra in his victory.
Youzhny was off to a very good start in the opening set and registered his first serve break of the day to close out the opener at 6-3 to get in to a 1-0 lead early in the matchup. His aggression faded away in the following set when Llodra came from behind to broke into a 4-1 lead and then went on to close out the second set at 6-3 to bring the match on even terms.
The contest had a nail biting ending as a trade of serve breaks from both men at 5-5 dragged the set into a tie breaker round. Llodra took the better of his opponent in the decider and raced away to victory at 7-6(4), to book a berth in the second round of the tournament, where he will face the Latvian competitor, Ernests Gulbis, for a place in the third round. Gulbis took down the former world number one, Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain, in the opening round to book a match with Llodra.
It is the fourth time that Llodra has defeated Youzhny in a singles encounter, the last one being in 2009 at Marseille, where he outplayed the Russian in straight sets 7-6(4), 7-6(3), to make it into the semi-finals of the tournament. The French leads the all-time head-to-head series against Youzhny by 4-2 now.
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