Michael Yani ousts Sanam Singh in the final qualifier – Malaysian Open 2012
Ranked 238th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Michael Yani, stood victorious in the final qualifying round of the Malaysian Open 2012, held at the hard courts of Kuala
Lumpur. He defeated the Indian rival, Sanam Singh, in straight sets, 6-4, 7-6(4) in a total of one hour and 54 minutes.
The 24-year-old, Singh, commenced a classic start of the opening set and bravely held his initial serve in front of the higher ranked American. Nonetheless, the American professional did not give up and encountered
Singh with equal aggression. He squared the scores three times in total and Yani broke his challenger’s serve in the ninth game. Eventually, he concluded the set with a 6-4 lead.
The American veteran secured the lead by firing 69 percent initial serve, converting 16 of 22 first and seven of 10 second serve points. He received five chances to secure break points, but could only capitalize
one. On the other hand, the Indian professional could not even snatch away one breakpoint and he manifested 49 percent first serve accuracy. Singh pocketed away 14 of 20 first and nine of 21 second serve point.
In the second set, the world number 373rd Indian participant stepped forward with a strong resolve to upset his rival. For the initial part of the set, the right-hander American evened
out the scores to 2-all in the fourth and 3-all in the sixth game. By the middle of the set, the two players struggled hard to dominate the other and correspondingly broke each other’s serves. The players oscillated the victory amongst one another and concluded
the set, 7-6(4) after a close tiebreaker round.
The 31-year-old, Yani, had a lower initial serve precision of 58 percent, with 20 of 29 first and 14 of 21 second delivery points. Similarly, the lower ranked Indian junior could only pocket away 57 percent initial
serve precision, with 21 of 29 first points. Unfortunately, from six serve break chances Singh could only win one.
Previously, the duo encountered each other in the second qualifying round of the Charlottesville Challenger, United States. The American had defeated his rival in straight sets, 7-6(6), 6-4.
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