Mikhail Youzhny knocks down Vasek Pospisil in the first round – St. Petersburg Open 2012
Top seed, Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, played brilliantly in front of his home crowd, as he defeated the world number 120 from Canada, Vasek Pospisil, in straight sets 7-6(4), 6-1 in the opening round of the St. Petersburg Open in
Russia.
Youzhny required an hour and 20 minutes to claim victory in a contest which proved to be one-sided at the end.
The Russian participant hit a blow to Pospisil in the opening game and easily held his following serve to grab a 2-0 lead. However, Youzhny failed to maintain his advantage till the end, getting broken in the sixth to equalise
the proceedings at 3-3. The subsequent six games went with serve, taking the score to 6-6 and forcing a tie-breaker. They went on equal terms till 4-4 but then Youzhny grabbed three in a row to seal the opening set 7-6(4).
Ranked 29th in the world, the Russian contender kept his first serve percentage at 57 and bagged 15 of the 20 points on them. On the replies to his opponent’s serves, Youzhny could not do well on the first but balanced
that by faring brilliantly on the second ones. The 30-year-old could win just four of the 20 first and 12 of the 22 second return points in the opener.
Youzhny and Pospisil started the second set by holding their serve in the first two games and levelling the score at 1-1. The Russian fully dominated the proceeding later on, as he broke his opponent two times, capturing five straight
games to grab it 6-1.
The 6ft tall neither hit an ace nor committed any double fault in the second set, maintaining his first serve percentage at 60. The Moscow, Russia resident converted nine of the 12 first and seven of the eight second deliveries
into points. The right-hander won four of the eight points on both first and second returns. The Russian star did not provide even a single break opportunity to his rival and utilised two of the three he created.
Youzhny will play the world number 98, Rajeev Ram of USA, in the second round.
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