Michael Russell eliminates Raven Klaasen in 1st round – Charlottesville Challenger 2011
Second seeded American Michael Russell defeated South African Raven Klaasen in the main draw of the Charlottesville Challenger 2011.
The two competitors took up the challenge on indoor hard courts of the Boar’s Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, Virginia. After simply one hour and thirty seven minutes the second seeded American wiped out the unseeded South African in straight sets of
6-4, 7-6(5) on Monday the 31st of October 2011.
Russell had won the toss and had opted to serve first for the opening round of the match but he was unable to hold his serve and gifted the opening game. On the other hand, Klaasen had not only benefitted from the breakpoint but also held his serve to reel
of two games against his opponent.
However, in the following two games Russell made a return by capping Klaasen’s lead. The second seeded American held his serve in the third game and in the fourth he broke his adversary to tie the score at 2-2. During the next two games, the contesters
held their serves to once more tie the score at 3-3 which was accomplished at the end of the sixth game.
Russell then took the lead in the seventh game with a hold of serve and by breaking his adversary in the eighth game; he was now a game away from going one up in the match. Although, the American was unable to close the game in the next game, he managed
to do so in the tenth game by restricting his adversary to only four games in the set.
During the second set neither player could break the other in the first six games. Instead, they matched a blow for a blow and the score was tied at 1-1, 2-2 and then 3-3 at the end of the sixth game. The toe-to-toe run carried well into the second set and
by the end of the next six games, each player had bagged another three games to eventually push the set into a tie breaker at the end of the twelfth game.
Amidst the tiebreaker Russell took the lead at 2-0, however, Klaasen also made a return to tie the score at 2-2. Nevertheless, both players once more were neck-on-neck into each other. However, from there onwards Russell made a dash to reach the finish line
and managed to clinch the tiebreaker at 7-5.
In doing so; Russell bagged the match and secured a place in the second round of the tournament.
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