Mikhail Youzhny crushes Patrik Rosenholm to enter quarters – If Stockholm Open 2012
Sixth seed, Mikhail Youzhny, devastated the local wild card entrant, Patrik Rosenholm, with a bagel at the If Stockholm Open 2012 on Wednesday. He juggled up a 6-0, 6-2 victories against the world number 436 to power into the final eight at this ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 Series event held in Stockholm, Sweden.
The Russian seed vaporised Rosenholm, eventually pulling out the victory in straight sets in one hour and three minutes. Battling each other for the first time, Youzhny took lead in the FedEx ATP Head 2 Head Series by 1-0 against the Swede and progressed into the quarter-finals at this indoor hard court event.
Youzhny thundered into the Kungliga tennishallen. He winded up all six games consecutively and pulled out the opener with a bagel. The Russian was never challenged with any barrier and cashed three out of four break chances to dominate.
Ranked 27th in the South African Airways ATP World Tour Rankings, Youzhny maintained consistency in his game in the proceeding set. He got the critical break in the fourth game and jumped to a 4-1 lead. The Russian held his remaining serves with poise and broke his opponent’s serve again in the last game, eventually sealing the set by winning six games to two.
All in all, Youzhny smashed four aces and regardless of producing a slightly lower first serve share of 55 per cent as compared to his rival’s 58 per cent, the Russian impressively clinched 18 out of 24 points on it.
Next in line for Youzhny is the winner of the match between second seed Tomas Berdych and the Estonian star, Jurgen Zopp.
Third seeded wild card recipient, Nicolas Almagro from Spain, got the better of the Romanian qualifier, Marius Copil, in straight sets to progress. The Spanish number three faced 15 aces but stayed calm. He required a single break of serve in the opening set and ultimately clicked the match with a 6-4, 7-6(4) score line. He produced a lower first serve share of 52 per cent as compared to his rival’s 62 per cent but availed 325 out of 34 points on it.
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