Mikhail Youzhny overwhelms Ivan Dodig in the quarter-final – PBZ Zagreb Indoors 2013
Seeded at number three in the tournament draw, Mikhail Youzhny, registered a thumping straight sets victory over the Croatian veteran, Ivan Dodig, in the quarter-final brawl of PBZ Zagreb Indoors on Friday. The 32nd
ranked Russian took merely 64 minutes to settle the final score line at 6-3, 6-2, marching into the round of four comprehensively.
It was a completely one-sided contest, with Youzhny dominating the 63rd ranked Croat contender all the way to his victory. It was the first encounter between these two and the Russian didn’t take much time to get under
the skin of Dodig. Youzhny won his second round match against Sijsling with the identical score line and he carried on his winning impetus against Dodig in Friday’s match to get a step closer to the ATP World Tour 250 championship title.
"It was a good match from me, I played really well," said Youzhny. "I like to be here, I like the tournament. Even today, when I was playing a Croatian, there was a lot of support for me. It was a full stadium and it was a really
good atmosphere."
The opening set started off in a steady manner, with both players holding their serve in the initial five games. Youzhny finally delivered a crucial blow in the sixth game and then held his own serve to attain a 5-2 lead. The Croatian
contender couldn’t recover from his opponent’s blow and had to submit the set to Youzhny at 3-6.
With the first set under his belt, the third seeded Russian came out firing in the following set and nailed two successive break points, rocketing away to 4-0 lead in no time. Dodig kept trailing behind in the rest of the match
and couldn’t register a single break of serve. The contest concluded in the eighth game when Youzhny served out, settling the final scores at 6-2 to enter the semi-final round lf PBZ Zagreb Indoors.
Youzhny will play his next matchup against the top seeded Croat, Marin Cilic, on Saturday’s eve. Cilic registered a straight sets victory over the unseeded Slovenian, Blaz Kavcic, in the quarter-final round.
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