Michael Russell tramples Raven Klaasen in 1st round
– Knoxville Challenger 2011
Top seeded American Michael Russell achieves a piece-of-cake victory against unseeded South African Raven Klaasen in the first round of the Knoxville Challenger 2011.
On the 9th of November 2011, the two contenders clashed on indoor hard courts of the University of Tennessee’s Goodfriend Tennis Center in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. After one hour and thirty five
minutes the top seed took out the unseeded South African in straight sets of 7-6(3), 6-2.
Initiating the first round of the match was Russell and both the players managed to successfully hold their initial service games and placed themselves on the scoreboard at 1-1. In the following two games each player managed
to hold his serve and the score had tied at two games each at the end of the fourth game.
The players then matched a blow for a blow and the score kept tied at 3-3, 4-4, 5-5, and finally at 6-6 by the end of the twelfth game which eventually pushed the set into a tie breaker. The toe-to-toe run lost its vapour
in tiebreaker and Russell had managed to clinch the tiebreaker at 7-3 to go one up in the match.
As Russell powered through the first set, he set the tone for the second. During the second set, neither of the players had double faulted but Klaasen had managed to smash one extra ace than his adversary. Nevertheless, Russell
had hit a grand 86 percent of his first serves on target and managed to accomplish a 61 percent of his first serve points won.
In addition, he not only had an excellent serve but also had an amazing return which assisted him in attaining a walloping 62 percent of his total return points won. Although, Russell was unable to save any of his breakpoints,
he managed to capitalize on 50 percent of breakpoints won.
During the second set Klaasen had erred on his serve and endorsed an early break to his adversary, who had then scooped off two consecutive games to place himself on the scoreboard with a mini lead of 2-0. During the following
two games each player managed to bag a game each on their respective serves and the score had shifted to 3-1 with Russell leading the set in the fourth game.
Subsequently, in the next two games the players traded in breaks, however, in the second last game Klaasen’s forehand went haywire and he endorsed a pivotal break to his opponent. Nevertheless, Russell was now a game away
from victory and as he held his serve in the eighth game, he sealed his victory of the set and the match.
Next up for Russell is compatriot Steve Johnson in the second round of the event.
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