Mikhail Kukushkin surprises Donald Young in the opening match – Swiss Indoors Basel 2011
Kazakh competitor, Mikhail Kukushkin, continued to ride his luck in the tournament, as he outplayed the world number 43, Donald Young of the United States, in the opening round of the Davidoff Swiss Open Basel on Monday afternoon.
Kukushkin got to the tournament draw as the lucky loser, as Jurgen Melzer withdrew from the event due to a lower back injury, and out played the American opponent in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2, to stun everyone present at the indoor
hard courts of St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland.
The 22-year-old American wildcard hung in the contest for one hour and twenty seven minutes of play before submitting in the second set of the match to let Kukushkin through to the round of 16 of the ATP (Association of Tennis
Professionals) World Tour 500 event.
Kukushkin, who now already 9-23 in World Tour-level matches this season, displayed a brilliant display of quality tennis to drive the 43rd ranked American out of the competition in an assertive fashion. He outplayed
Young in every segment of the contest and gave him limited opportunities to get settled in the contest. The Kazakh converted six of his nine break points in the matchup, where the American wildcard stung three out of 12 to finish on the losing side in the
end.
The lucky loser delivered 55 per cent of his serve on target and secured 26 out of 38 first serve points, while his opponent lagged behind at 20 points to lose the match. Young was clearly beaten by the aggressive game play of
the Kazakh competitor, who launched frequent forays to the net to convert many volleys into easy cross-court points in the match.
An action-packed opening set was seen, with the two contestants toiling extremely hard to take the better of one another early in the game. Kukushkin dropped his serve twice in the opener but nailed three straight serve breaks
to pocket the first set at 6-4, getting one up in the contest. He carried on with his belligerence in the following set as well, breaking Young twice in a row to race away to 3-0 lead. The American registered his third break point of the day in the fourth
game but was outdone by another crushing break of serve from Kukushkin in the seventh game to finish the matchup at 2-6.
Kukushkin will take on the winner of the all-American affair in the opening round between James Blake and the fifth seed Mardy Fish, in the second round of the tournament.
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