Mikhail Youzhny ousts Julien Benneteau to reach the quarter-finals – St. Petersburg open 2011
World number 33, Mikhail Youzhny of Russia, cleared the second round of the St. Petersburg Open by defeating the 55th ranked Frenchman, Julien Benneteau, on Wednesday evening.
The competition was staged on the indoor hard courts of the Petersburg Sports and Concert Complex in Saint Petersburg, in Russia, with the fifth seeded home favourite winning in three sets, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. Youzhny took two hours
and seven minutes of play to book a berth in the quarter-final draw of the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) World Tour 250 event.
Youzhny registered his 26th victory of the running season to improve his record to 4-1 against Benneteau in singles encounters. They both met in Eastbourne in 2009 last time, with the French winning in three sets, 4-6,
6-4, 6-4, but he failed to repeat the similar performance on Wednesday. The Russian pocketed the opening set to get one up early in the contest but let his opponent back in the game after dropping the next set. Youzhny upped his game in the final set and completely
blew away the Frenchman to book a place in the round of eight.
Youzhny secured 28, while his opponent clinched 29 first serve points in the matchup. Benneteau evenly matched the Russian in every segment of the game but it appeared just a matter of time that the Frenchman couldn’t convert some
vital opportunities in the contest to finish on the losing side in the end.
The fifth seed raced to a 3-0 lead in the opener and carried on with his momentum to pocket the first set at 6-4. Benneteau came out firing in the following set and nailed three breaks of serve to seal the second set at 6-3, levelling
the matchup at one-all. Youzhny regrouped again and took off the final set with a serve break to lead 2-0 and continued with his aggressive game play to inch closer to victory. A decisive break of serve came from the fifth seeded Russian in the seventh game,
closing out the matchup in his favour at 6-2.
Youzhny will take on the other unseeded Frenchman, Adrian Mannarino, in the quarter-final to fight for a berth in the semis of the St. Petersburg Open. Mannarino upset the top seed fellow compatriot, Gilles Simon and then outplayed
Lukas Rosol of Czech Republic in the second round to book a date with Youzhny in the round of eight.
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