Michael Russell outplays Albert Montanes to get through to the second round – Rogers Cup 2011
Another surprising result was seen in the opening round of Rogers Cup when the world number 47, Albert Montanes of Spain suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of the 100th ranked American qualifier, Michael Russell on Tuesday afternoon.
Being a part of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Masters Series event, the match was held on the hard courts of Uniprix Stadium in Montreal, Canada. 33-year-old American veteran wrapped up the contest in straight sets, 7-5, 6-2, in one hour and nineteen minutes of play to qualify for the second round of the tournament.
It appeared a fairly one-sided, with American dominance being observed most of the time in the matchup. Russell served very well when he needed to and executed clean baseline hitting in the contest to outplay the 47th ranked Spaniard from the competition with ease, making his way to the second round of the Rogers Cup.
Russell’s serve game gave him the extra edge over the bleak Spanish competitor and he reeled off 27 out of 36 first serve points with his 63 per cent accurate serve in the game. The American crafted 12 break opportunities in the match and cashed in just five of them to seal victory, whole his opponent converted two out of two break points to lose the contest.
An action-packed opener was witnessed, stuffed with a number of serve breaks and assertive winners. An early exchange of break points from both men took the scores to 3-3, where another trade of serve breaks was seen to take the scores to 5-5. Russell kept his momentum and nailed his third and most critical serve break to seal the opening set at 7-5. Russell proved absolutely merciless in the second set and two break point conversions in the sixth and eighth game concluded the matchup for him at 6-2.
These two men first met way back in 2002 in Mallorca, Spain, where Montanes defeated Russell in a stiff contest at 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 6-4, in the round of 32. The American’s victory on Tuesday levels his head-to-head record against Montanes by 1-1 and books him a berth in the second round of the tournament. Russell is slated to face the fourteenth seed Swiss contestants, Stanislas Wawrinka, in the next encounter to get another step closer to the quarter-finals. The Swiss number two, Wawrinka, took down the former world number three, David Nalbandian of Argentina, in straight sets 6-1, 6-4, in the opening round of Rogers Cup.
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